


Remembrance

by buckyismymainman



Series: After Effects Series [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bucky's trying to help her remember but she's being stubborn, Cussing, F/M, Gah! I thought we were done with that medieval torture, I just realized we're back to a slow burn, Like they wiped her mind and she can kinda remember Bucky but not by much, Memory Loss, Mina doesn't remember much, More tags to be added as I remember things, Slow Burnish, Some Fluff, Stockholm Syndrome, controlling overlord, feelings are still there just she can't remember them right now, thoughts alluding to sexual assult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-23 11:16:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 40,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15605097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyismymainman/pseuds/buckyismymainman
Summary: Mina has been with The Enclave for seven months.  She doesn't remember her previous life or even remembers that she is in love with Bucky.  When the others finally find Mina they take her back to the compound and try to help her remember her past much to her chagrin.





	1. Chapter 1

Mina tapped her nails against the wooden table in the hotel room that one of the French ministers she was currently shadowing was staying in.  Most people thought that she was his mistress while others thought she was his newest secretary.  Neither of those assumptions were true, but she didn’t mind the speculation, it kept people from knowing what she was really doing with the French minister.

Jean Devereux stepped out of the bedroom wearing his sleeping pants and a simple white t-shirt.  He had been on the phone with one of his colleagues and needed some privacy to make the call. “Sorry about that my dear,” he said in French.  “Private business, you would have been bored anyway.” He bent down and kissed her cheek, he liked to think she was his mistress, and kept her holed up in the private suite of some five star hotel in Paris.

He wasn’t a bad looking man.  He was in his late forties, still had his hair, and exercised frequently.  But the first rule she had learned was to never get attached to her targets.  Her master would punish her severely if she did. She had seen what had happened to Amara when the other Siren had gotten tangled up with her target.

She plastered a sweet smile on her face, “It’s quite all right.  You’re a busy man.”

He pulled her up off the couch and began leading her over to the bedroom, “I’m all yours now.”

She stood a bit closer to him, they were at the foot of the bed.  “Would you do me a little favor?” Her voice changed the way it always did when she used her Siren Song.  

“What?” He placed his hands on her hips, drawing her even closer to him. She felt repulsed by his hands and how close his body was to hers.

“Sleep,” she commanded.

He momentarily looked confused and then his eyes fluttered shut and he crumpled onto the bed.  She relaxed as he snored softly. She shook herself trying to forget the way he felt as he held her.  She knew exactly what he had been planning on doing with her.

She entered the little living room and picked his phone off the table.  She began scrolling through it looking for any valuable information. She had been with him for two and a half months now, working toward getting closer to his other colleagues.  She needed someone who was higher up on the food chain, but he was careful with her. No formal functions or meetings when she was around.

And frankly, she was getting a little annoyed.

Tossing the phone back on the table she went to get dressed to spend the night out on the town.  She wasn’t going to get anything good out of him tonight, and if she was too wake him, he was too frisky for her to even question him properly.

No, that would have to wait until the morning when they were sharing breakfast together.

As she exited the building she thought she caught a glimpse of something in the sky, but when she looked up there was nothing there.  She shrugged it off and headed to one of the more popular clubs in the city. She used her powers to gain access almost immediately and free drinks for the rest of the night.

As she left in the early hours of the morning her phone began to ring.  It was her master calling her. “Hello master,” she said into the phone.

“Hello my darling Siren Song, how are you enjoying Paris?”  She could tell he was in his office because she couldn’t hear the sounds of the others in the building.

“It has become boring, I want to come home,” she pouted.

“Why don’t you come back for the weekend and share a progress report with me?”

She perked up at the idea, “Really?”

He chuckled, “Yes, I’m sure the other girls would be happy to see you as well, you’ve been gone for some months.”

“I’ll pack and be on the jet tonight,” she said excitedly.

“Excellent, I can’t wait to see you, my darling Siren Song.”  He hung up the phone and Mina rushed back to the hotel to gather her things.

 

Bucky was in the gym lifting weights, his music blaring in his ears.  He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He whirled around, yanking his earphones out to discover Steve standing behind him.  “Jesus Steve, you scared me.”

Steve had a grim look on his face.  “Come with me.”

A pit formed in Bucky’s stomach.  “What is it? Is it Mina?” She had been gone for over seven months now.  The team trying desperately to get her back, but they couldn’t without going to The Enclave’s base where all the other Sirens were.  If one could take them down then they would be no match for a whole group.

“Just come on,” Steve led him toward the comm room.  When they entered Bucky saw Sam on one of the TV screens.  He looked just grim as Steve. Tony, Wanda, Pietro, and Peter were all in the room looking grim.  “Tell him.”

Sam took in a deep breath.  “She’s here in Paris, but she’s heading back to their headquarters tomorrow for the weekend.  She’s been trailing some French minister. He’s a lower ranking minister, and I have reason to believe she’s going to try and get closer to someone higher in rank.”

Bucky sat down in one of the available chairs.  “Then we need to go to her. When she gets back, we need to be waiting for her.  This is our chance.”

“Has Shuri finished the earpieces yet?”  Wanda asked. “We can’t go to her without those.”

“She has,” Steve confirmed.  “She finished them last week, she’s just putting some extra touches on them.”

Bucky was up within a second.  “Then we get them and we head to France.  I’ve waited long enough to get her back, I’m not waiting a second longer.”  He headed out of the room and toward the lab where Shuri was. She had decided to stay at the Avenger’s compound after the attack.  She was doing everything she could to help the team locate her friend.

She didn’t look up when Bucky entered.  “Unless you have good news for me I don’t want to hear it.  I have to do one more thing to these earpieces that will block out a Siren’s abilities and this is a delicate process.”

“Shuri, we found her.”  Shuri’s head shot up from what she was looking at.  “She’s in Paris. She’s currently heading back to The Enclave’s headquarters, but she’ll be back after the weekend is up.  We’re going to go get her.”

Shuri hopped up and threw her arms around Bucky, “Oh I’m so glad!”  Bucky squeezed her back, relief flooding through him as well. He was going to get her back.  “I need to call T’Challa,” she said as she pulled away. “He’ll want to be there with you.” She walked over to her phone and began to text away.

Bucky took a seat on one of the stools.  “I can’t believe we actually found her.”

“I knew we would, it was only a matter of time.”  Shuri put her phone down. “We’re going to get her back.”

They were, in a few short days she would be back with them.  He knew she wouldn’t remember them, or even their time together, but they would fix that.  She would come back to them. Bucky had to have faith that this would all end well.

 

Mina landed the jet and exited out into the sunlight.  She had to blink several times to let her eyes adjust to the brightness.  “Mina!” She heard Caterina’s voice.

“Cat!”  Mina rushed over to her friend and squeezed her tightly.  “Oh, I’ve missed you.”

“We’ve missed you too,” the other girl pulled away and started tugging Mina inside the building.  “Master said that you would be coming back for the weekend. We’re all so excited that you’re here.”

Shinsky was waiting in the front hall.  He opened his arms when he saw Mina entering and she rushed over to hug him.  “Hello Mina, I’m glad you made it back safely.”

“I’m so glad to be back home,” she said with a smile.  “I’ve missed you.”

“Come let’s get you something to eat.  The others are in the dining hall eating lunch.”  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her and Caterina toward the dining hall where the other girls squealed when they saw Mina.  “Mina, when you’re done come find me in one of the labs, I want to run some tests and make sure everything is okay.”

“All right,” she smiled at him.  “I’ll be there in a little while.”

The others talked to her about her mission had been going, how life around the building was going.  “We’ve been monitoring the Avengers more lately. But they seem quiet,” Caterina said. “They’ve stayed away from us mostly.”

Mina knew that the Avengers had led several attacks on The Enclave a little over a year ago.  She had wanted to go after them, take them out since they were menaces, but Shinsky told her that they would deal with them in time.  They needed the support of other nations that way they wouldn’t have the government backing.

“Good, the longer they stay away the longer we have of completing our goal,” Mina said as she moved her food around on her plate.  The cooks had made lasagna and there was something strangely familiar about it, like she had made this before, but she rarely needed to cook when she was living here.

The girls continued to talk for a little while still catching up on what each other had missed while away on their various missions.  Once they were finished Mina excused herself to go find Shinsky. She knew what to expect. It was her monthly check up where they knocked her out and made sure she was all right and that nothing was wrong with her.

Shinsky was patiently waiting for her in the main lab of the building.  “Ready?” He asked as she took a seat on the chair in the center of the room.

“Yes,” she smiled at him and he took a syringe and stuck it into her arm.  Within moments the world went black.

When she came to hours later she was in her room with the lights off and the shades were drawn.  She felt a little groggy and she stood to go take a shower. The moonlight filter in through the small window on the farthest wall of the bathroom and she stared out it as she stood under the flow of water.

She always felt she was in a daze after being with Shinsky in the lab.  She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she always felt… sick? Creeped out?  Which she shouldn’t feel that way. Shinsky was just making sure she was all right.

She blew out a breath and turned the water off, wrapping one of the plush towels around herself and stepping into the room beyond.

_“Doll?”_

She whirled around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice.  “Who’s there?” But there was no response. She shook her head trying to get the voice out of her head.  Who had that been? And why did they sound so familiar to her?

She dressed for the evening and slid under the covers hoping to forget the sound of that voice, but as she drifted off to sleep she remembered the feeling of soft hair between her fingers and the feeling of lips on her neck.  And a name.

Bucky.

Who the hell is Bucky?


	2. Chapter 2

When Mina arrived back in Paris she dreaded going back to the hotel and seeing Jean.  She was tired of this man, she wanted to be with someone who posed more of a challenge, she wanted to prove herself to The Enclave and to her master.

She opened the door to her suite and dropped her bags on the table, kicking off her shoes with a sigh.  It was nice to be off the jet. “Jean?” She called out trying to see if he had come to the hotel when she texted him she was on the way back to the city, but there was no answer.

At least she would have the place to herself for a bit.  She padded into the bathroom and locked the door so she could take a shower in peace.  Maybe she would get lucky and would have the night to herself. She wanted to go clubbing again before getting back to work.  She liked being in the clubs, dancing with complete strangers and forgetting her mission for a few hours. For a while, she was in pure bliss.  She was just Mina.

Not a Siren.

Not a member of The Enclave.

Just Mina.

She had never uttered those words to another person before.  She didn’t need the other girls knowing how she felt. They might have been sisters and they might have a good bond, but there was still that competitiveness with them all.  Each one of them wanted to be Shinsky’s favorite and because she was the first success, the one with more powers than the others, they were all jealous. They knew Shinsky liked her best.

By the time she was ready to leave for the night she hadn’t heard from Jean which she found to be odd, but she was thankful.  She could find out where her wayward charge was tomorrow when she had gotten acclimated to the city.

She put on a short sheath dress, grabbed her clutch, and headed out into the night to have some fun.

 

Bucky stood on the roof of some apartment building in the middle of Paris, he was close to Mina’s hotel, in fact he could see it in the distance.  He had never been to Paris before, but these were not the circumstances that he would have liked to have arrived in.

“Is everyone in position?”  Steve’s voice echoed in Bucky’s ear.

“Roger,” Wilson said.  Bucky could see Sam’s dark figure circling above, only noticeable if you were actually looking for him.

“So am I,” Natasha responded.

“Same here,” Tony said.

“I’ve been ready,” Pietro joked.

“We’re ready,” Bucky heard T’Challa say, he and Shuri were waiting at the jet as their getaway drivers in case things went south.

“Ready whenever you are,” Bucky said lastly.

Sam had informed them that she had arrived back in the city a few hours ago and had been holed up in her hotel room ever since.  No signs of anyone else with her when she arrived. They were planning on sneaking into the hotel and grabbing her with hopefully minimal fuss.

Their first good lead in seven months.  Bucky was anxious to see her again, to see her in person instead of through pictures or surveillance footage.

They had a lead three months ago when she had been photographed on the arm of a politician.  She had been seen whispering in his ear all night long. She had been wearing a floor length dress with a plunging neckline and jewelry, so unlike his Mina.  Her makeup and hair were done to perfection, it had been up in a complicated updo, and she was wearing heels that made her appear taller than she actually was.

All the tabloids speculated who she was and why the politician suddenly had a younger woman on his arm when he was happily married.  But the team knew she was being used to change laws within France. They were using her to get the politician to announce war on the Middle East, wanting to create as much chaos as possible before The Enclave could swoop in and clean up the mess.

“Bucky, target spotted, you’re up,” Natasha said.  “She’s leaving the hotel now.”

Bucky jumped from the rooftop and wound his way through the streets heading toward the hotel he had been eyeing from the rooftop.  He prayed that the earpieces Shuri created worked.

As he approached the hotel he saw her exit the building.  She was in another dress, this one shorter than the one he had seen her in, in the tabloid, her hair was up again though.  

He came up behind her, grabbed her so that her arms were pinned behind her back, and dragged her into an alleyway where no one would see them.  He spun her around so that she was facing him. There was a smile on her face, the seductive sort like she was working the politician to do what she wanted him to do.  “The Winter Soldier,” she purred. There was nothing about her that screamed his Mina. This person before him was an imposter. “Come to join the fun?”

“Mina,” he pleaded.  “It’s me. It’s Bucky.”  He released her hands hoping that some spark was still there and she would magically snap out of whatever they had done to her.

She tilted her head to the side, her hands running up his chest and around his neck.  “Mmm, is that what you liked to be called nowadays?” She pulled him so that his body was flush against hers, the shadows were hiding them from the street beyond.  “I think I like the Winter Soldier better.” Now was the moment of truth, he could feel her powers rolling off of her, but he wasn’t feeling the effects. “Come on Bucky, be the Winter Soldier for me.”  She gave him another seductive smile, her face coming closer to his. “Let’s cause some havoc.”

Nothing happened.  Bucky still had full control over his body.  “Sorry doll, I don’t work like that no more.”

He slapped a pair of handcuffs on her that would suppress her other powers.  She thrashed against him, “How?” She screeched. “No one is immune to my powers!”

“I am,” he said as he pulled her into the street and began pushing her down the sidewalk toward where the jet was located.  “Package secure, meet at the rendezvous point.”

“My master won’t let you get away with this. He’ll come for me,” she seethed.

Bucky whirled her around, anger pulsing through his veins.  “You don’t have a master. You are your own person Mina Gaspari, and before you left me to protect me and your friends, you told me that you loved me.  Well guess what? I love you too, and that means I’m not going to let that son of a bitch control you anymore. You’re coming home, you’re coming back to me, Mina.”

She glared up at him, “I don’t even know you outside of your reputation as the Winter Soldier so how could I have told you I loved you?”

Oh he really wanted to kill that bastard Shinsky now.  “Just wait doll, you’ll remember soon enough.” He dragged her the rest of the way to the jet with her still trying to use her abilities on him, but no matter how much power she poured into her words nothing would change him.

As they approached the jet the others stared at her, waiting to see what she would do and say, she merely sneered at them as Bucky dragged her onto the ship.  He sat her down and told T’Challa to go.

The entire jet was silent, no one quite sure what to say.  “So what prison am I being taken to and what are the charges?”  She arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow, a frown gracing her lips.

“We’re not taking you to a prison,” Steve said calmly, but she could see the worry in his eyes.  “You’re coming with us to the compound.”

“Ah so you’ll lock me up there,” she nodded her head.  “Want to keep an eye on me, eh?” 

“No,” Bucky said, his frown had become more severe.  “You won’t be locked up, you’ll be staying in your old room.”

“Old room?  I’ve never stayed with you people in my life, I was raised at The Enclaves' headquarters after my parents tossed me aside like I was trash,” she spat.  “Shinsky, my master, he raised me.”

The others watched as Bucky clenched his fists together, his jaw tightening as well.  “Stop calling him that,” he growled.

Her eyes cut over to Bucky, “Well he is!  It’s what the other girls call him. He’s our master.  He’s the one that’s going to make the world a better place.”  It pained everyone to hear her talking like this. The strong willed girl they knew had now been reduced to this.

“I think that’s enough talking,” T’Challa spoke up diplomatically.  “We can discuss this more in the morning once everyone is well rested.”

“The King of Wakanda, I should have known that you would be in on this.  Let me guess your sister there created something that would protect all of you from my abilities.”

“You would be correct,” Shuri spoke up.

Mina fell silent.  None of them saying another word for the rest of the flight.

 

Landing at the Avengers’ compound several hours later was a relief for everyone except Mina.  She wanted to be back in her hotel room. She had to warn her master of what had happened if he didn’t already know.  When the girls said that the Avengers had been quiet she should have known they were planning something. Of course they would go after her, she posed the biggest threat.

Buckey led her inside.  He unlocked the cuffs and put a bracelet on her.  “Another one of Shuri’s designs,” he smirked at her, something familiar about it, but she kept her mouth shut.  “You can’t take it off and it dampens all your powers. No flaming hands, no strength, no Siren Song.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “How did you know about my fire?”

“Because I know you, doll.”  She stiffened, frozen there in the hallway.  The voice she had heard before coming back to Paris, it had been his.  “What?” He saw her reaction to him calling her ‘doll’. “Something wrong?”

She forced herself to relax and put a bored expression on her face.  “Only that I’m being held prisoner here.”

“You’re not being held prisoner,” he sighed.  “You can go anywhere in the compound except for areas where you don’t have clearance, and you just can’t go outside unless one of us is with you.  But other than that you have free reign over the place.”

He opened the door to the room they had stopped in front of.  She peered inside. It had been decorated like someone was already living there.  “I think this room is taken,” she sniffed.

“It is, by you.”  Bucky slipped inside and plucked a picture off the bookshelf.  He handed it to her. When she looked at it she saw herself standing between an older woman with her eyes and an older man.  “Those are your parents, Alia and Marcus Gaspari.”

“I don’t have parents,” she pushed the picture away not wanting to look at it.  “Are you sure whoever lives here won’t mind me staying?”

“No because it’s your room,” he said, he didn’t sound exasperated, just patient.  “If that’s all I’m going to go. I will see you in the morning.”

“Wait,” she called out before he could leave.  He turned to face her. The smile she had used on him in Paris was back, “You sure you don’t want to stay with me, soldier?”  She batted her eyes at him, trying desperately to use her abilities.

Bucky gave her a flat look, “I already told you your powers won’t work one because of the bracelet and two because of the earpiece we are all wearing.  Now get some sleep.” He shut the door behind him and Mina huffed in annoyance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's back with the team, but we still have a long way to go before she remembers who she is and that she ever loved Bucky.


	3. Chapter 3

Mina woke up in her new room several hours later.  It was bright outside, she could see the sun shining through the shades.  She sat up and stretched her arms above her head. She felt the metal bracelet against her wrist and brought her arms back down.  She glared at it, wondering if there was some way to break it off even though Bucky said she couldn't. She knew the metal had to be vibranium if it was indestructible.

Her stomach growled and she looked toward the door.  She couldn’t hear the sounds of people beyond it, no morning chatter, no footsteps.  She stood up and carefully crept closer until her hand was resting on the cool metal of the doorknob.  Twisting it she pulled the door back slowly and peered into the hall only to discover that it empty.

Stepping further into the hall she listened, but again there were no sounds.  Her brows furrowed in confusion. This place should have been bustling with people.  She was at the Avengers’ headquarters, where was everyone?

She made her way down the hall and found an elevator.  Once inside she looked at all the buttons wondering which floor she should go to.

“If you would like to get breakfast I would suggest the first floor,” Came a female voice from above.

Mina jumped, “What the hell?”  She looked around, but there was no floating apparition or person with her.

“I am F.R.I.D.A.Y., Mr. Stark created me.  I am here to assist you,” the voice responded.

“Okay,” she dragged out the syllables as she selected the first floor.  “Where’s the kitchen then?”

“When the elevator doors open head straight down the hall and make the first right, once you have done that the kitchen in the third door on the left.”

The elevator doors slid open and Mina stepped out, “Thanks.”

“Of course Miss Gaspari,” then the voice was gone.

Mina didn’t like the use of her supposed last name.  She didn’t like how they were subtly using the AI to try and provoke memories that just weren’t there.  She knew that’s what they were trying to do. They were trying to kick start her memory.

Mina headed down the hall, once again finding it empty.  Had they left her here alone? It was strange, The Enclave was normally bustling with people from all over.  Members coming back, members leaving, the girls giggling over the guards they found cute. Mina had never joined them in on their giggling, she hadn’t found any of the guards attractive.  The other girls thought that maybe she thought she was too good for the guards, but that was never the case. She wasn’t sure why, but she was just never attracted to anyone in that way.

The girls would ask her if she ever got that butterfly feeling in her stomach when one of the men gave her a look, but she would shake her head.  Her heart wouldn’t race, she wouldn’t blush, nothing that would accompany the feeling of actually being attracted to someone.

She reached the door that the AI had referred to and pushed it open ready to face the stares, but once again the room was empty.

“Why do I feel like I’ve been dropped into some weird limbo?”  She muttered to herself as she made her way over to the refrigerator to grab some juice.  She was pleasantly surprised to find a bottle of grape juice resting on the middle shelf within view.  She plucked it off the shelf and went searching for a glass.

She found some and poured the juice before taking a long swig, sighing happily as she discovered it was her favorite kind.  Concord grape.

Her stomach growled again and this time she went in search of food.  She hoped that they had Pop Tarts here, that’s what she usually ate for breakfast unless the cooks made pancakes.  “Top shelf, pantry,” a voice said behind her.

She turned to see Bucky leaning against the wall.  His shirt hugging his body so that she could see the outline of his muscles, sweatpants riding low on his hips.  She stood there frozen for a minute trying to think of something to say. In the end, she merely nodded and turned toward the pantry.

She looked and saw that she could not reach the box with the cinnamon brown sugar ones.  “Here let me,” she felt his body brush against hers as he reached for the box. Her body shivered as she felt his warmth and his body brush against hers.  She was surprised to find that it was a shiver of disgust like she did whenever Jean touched her or one of the guards sent a look her way. It was pleasant.  

She didn’t like it.

His metal arm came down, gently holding the box she had wanted.  She took it from him before saying, “How did you know I wanted these?”  She met his gaze, she hadn’t noticed the night before but he had beautiful blue eyes.

“They’re your favorite,” he merely said with a shrug.  He moved away from her and started getting his own breakfast ready.

She clutched the box and watched him.  His focus completely on the task of fixing himself something to eat.  He didn’t stare at her, he didn’t try to talk or flirt, he was just there.  It unnerved her that he knew which Pop Tarts she liked and how he didn’t stare at her.  Most men couldn’t look away, but she chalked it up to her powers being muted by the bracelet she was wearing and the earpiece he had in.

She took the box over to the bar and sat down before pulling the shiny foil packet out of the box and ripping into it.  “Where are the others? I figured all of them would want to be here to keep an eye on me. Make sure I didn’t cause any problems.”

“I told them to leave,” he said without looking up at her.  “I can handle you on your own, and I’m pretty sure you’d be more comfortable if a bunch of people weren’t crowding around you.”  He flipped the pancake he was making. They smelled delicious, and her mouth watered some as she watched him cook, her Pop Tarts forgotten in front of her.

“You think you can handle me?  That’s rich,” she snorted.

He looked up at her then, an eyebrow arched, “Your powers are currently restrained, you’re about as strong as a human right now.  I think I can handle you.” He put the pancakes onto a plate, her eyes following the fluffy, golden brown stack. He noticed her eyes watching the pancakes and he chuckled, “Do you want some?”

She brought her eyes up from the pancakes to his, “Maybe.”

“Speak now or forever hold your peace,” he held the plate out towards her and offered her a fork to grab a pancake with.

She took the fork cautiously and then grabbed a pancake and sat in on the plate Bucky had gotten for her.  He watched her as discreetly as he could as she tore into the pancake and savored the warmth and taste of it.  Neither of them spoke again as they continued to eat their breakfast.

Once they were both done Bucky offered to show her around the compound some.  “This is the common room, it’s where we all hang out from time to time. You can watch movies, Netflix, Amazon, basically anything from in here.”  He pointed to a wall of bookshelves, “Those are the movies over there. There may also be some in your room, a secret stash if you will.” He pointed to another wall covered in books.  “That’s sort of a mini library, but there’s a bigger one down the hall.”

“Then why keep those in here?”  She asked.

Bucky shrugged, “Maybe to add something to the room?  I never asked why they set it up like that, that was before my time here.”  He glanced down at her and he noticed she was scrutinizing the titles from where she stood.  “Come on, I’ll show you the library.” The two of them headed to a door a few paces down the hall.  “It’s two floors,” he pushed the door open and Mina had to hold back a gasp. There were so many books.  “Not as good as T’Challa’s library in Wakanda, but you spent a lot of time in here.”

That made her frown, “Stop acting as if I’ve been here before.”  She clenched her fists and shoved them in the pockets of the sweatpants she was wearing.  “I’ve told you already that I’ve never been here before.”

“Mina, what do you know about me?”  His question was abrupt and she turned to face him, his expression neutral.

“You’re the Winter Soldier or at least you were until you went rogue and joined the Avengers.  You had fifteen confirmed kills, possibly more, but the information is murky. You were created by HYDRA with a similar serum that made Steve Rogers.”

“Is there anything else you know about me?”

“You fought in World War II, born in 1917.  You were presumed dead after you fell from a great distance until HYDRA found you and saved your life.”

There was a pained look on his face and he looked away, folding his arms over my chest.  “HYDRA didn’t save _me._ They saved my body.  They wiped my memory so I would have no recollection of being James Buchanan Barnes, Steve Rogers childhood best friend, one of the members of the Howling Commandos.  Those fifteen confirmed kills, I remember doing them, but I wasn’t in control of my body. _They_ had control of me, _they_ made me do those things.  If I had a say in it I would have gone looking for Steve a long time ago and never been put under HYDRA’s control.”  Mina fell silent, not sure what to say to him. “That’s what The Enclave has done to you. They want to take over the world by using you as their secret weapon.”

Mina shook her head, anger rising in her, “No, they wouldn’t do that to me.  They protected me, they saved me.”

“Really?  Trying to gain control of French ministers in hopes of starting a war between two countries is what you call saving?  Taking away people’s free will isn’t saving Mina, it’s a dictatorship, one that will be no better than what HYDRA was trying to do.”

“You know nothing,” she spat.  “You don’t know them like I do.  My master--”

Bucky took her by the shoulders and peered into her eyes, “Wladyslav Shinsky is not your master!”

She did not shrink away from him, she met his glare with one of her own.  A fire in her eyes, something he recognized from his Mina. “He is. How many times am I going to have to tell you this?”

“Until you stop believing it,” he responded.  He released her shoulders and started to walk away.  “You can finish exploring yourself. If you aren’t meant to go into a room the door will be locked,” he called over his shoulder.

She watched him disappear down the hall, his body stiff, movements ridged.  Was it because he believed that she had loved him at one point? That was impossible, she had never met him before last night in Paris.  She had only heard about him through her training at The Enclave’s headquarters when she was getting ready for her mission in Paris.

But the fierceness that he had shown just now, the soft looks he thought she didn’t notice.  He cared about her and it wasn’t because of her abilities. Maybe they had known one another.

She shook her head.  That was impossible, and if her master knew what she was thinking she would be punished for it.

No, she had never met James Buchanan Barnes before the night before.  She was not in love with him. He had to be using this tactic on her to try and get her to fall in love with him so she would reveal valuable secrets on The Enclave.

Her master would come for her soon.  They would save her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Bucky.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor thoughts of sexual assault, nothing graphic it more or less just alludes to the idea of it.

Bucky leaned on the outside wall of the compound far out of sight from Mina.  His head was resting on the wall, his eyes closed. The morning hadn’t gone quite how he had hoped, but still better than he had imagined.

Her body had reacted to his when he had brushed up against her.  An accident, but one that garnered a positive result. His phone rang and he saw Steve’s face on his phone.  “How is she?” He asked when Bucky had answered.

“Still in this state of believing she’s never met any of us before last night.  Thinking that Shinsky is her goddamn master.” He took in a deep, steadying breath.  “I’m so sick of hearing her call him that and we only got her back last night.”

“I know Buck, but things will slowly get better.  Remember how you were once we freed you from HYDRA? It took time for you being away from them for your memories to come back.”

“I took me two whole years to come back to who I was.  We don’t have that kind of time,” Bucky hissed. “The Enclave could be coming for her and I’d rather she didn’t go running to them with open arms.”

“And she won’t.  We’re wiser to them now, and Shinsky could see this as an advantage.  She can spy on us now that we have her back. He feels secure enough that she won’t remember us.  We just need to keep it that way.”

“All right, I need to head back in and watch to make sure she doesn’t do anything.”  They said their goodbyes and Bucky headed back inside. He headed for the second floor where the surveillance room was and set up shop there for the rest of the afternoon.  

She didn’t do much, she had decided to stay at the library and picked up a stack of books.  She situated herself on one of the couches by the window and curled up with the books. Her body was tense and every once in a while her eyes would scan the room as if waiting to be ambushed by him or the others.

It started growing dark and she still hadn’t moved from her spot.  Lights began flickering on all throughout the compound and it wasn’t until that moment she realized how late it had actually become.  She stood, and sat the book she was reading on the table in front of her.

She ventured into the hall still checking to see if he or anyone else was waiting for her.  Satisfied when she saw she was still very much alone she headed for the kitchen. Bucky debated joining her, but he didn’t want to spark up their little argument from earlier again.

He watched her peek into the kitchen and then pushed the door open wider.  She moved hurriedly as she grabbed things that were already premade. He sat up straighter as he realized she didn’t know how to cook for herself.  

He mentally slapped himself, of course she wouldn’t member how to make her usual things, they had wiped her mind and she probably hadn’t done much cooking when she was with The Enclave.

Tomorrow he would make something for her, and leave it out.  They would still be alone, the others had agreed that a few days with just the two of them would be good.  Wouldn’t make her feel as trapped.

 

Mina was relieved that she didn’t see Bucky again for the rest of the day.  She was afraid that every time she popped around a corner he would be there waiting for her, but he never was.  She was a little afraid that the others were also going to ambush her at any moment. She didn’t know where they were and when they would be back.

She spent most of the next day in her room with her little stash of food.  She had stocked up the night before that way she wouldn’t have to come out of her room for a while.  She had spent most of the day going through this other person’s things. The things that Bucky claimed were hers.

She eyed the photo with her face and the two people she didn’t recognize.  She looked like the older woman, they shared the same eye color and smile. She had dark hair like the man.  But she doubted that the photo was real. The Avengers would have ways of faking a photo like this. These people weren’t her parents.  The photo was a lie.

Around noon there was a knock on her door.  She went to use her flames but growled when nothing happened.  She had forgotten about the bracelet keeping her powers in check.  “Mina? Can I come in?”

It was Bucky.  “Do I have a choice?”  She called out.

“Yes,” he said honestly.  “You can tell me to go away and I will.”

“Then go away,” she told him.  She waited for him to just barge in or say something else, but there was no response.  She stood up and opened the door, he was gone. She blinked. At The Enclaves' headquarters, Shinsky would barge in whenever he pleased, even when she asked him not to.

She slowly closed her door and headed back to her bed.  She wondered what he had wanted. A little while later the AI’s voice came over the intercom.  “Bucky wanted me to inform you that he made dinner. It’s in the oven keeping warm, he’s in his room and the others still haven’t returned.  You will be by yourself.”

“Oh, okay.”  She sat on the bed not moving a muscle.  Was this a trap?

A video projection of the kitchen appeared before her.  “This is the kitchen if you would like proof that it is indeed empty.”  More footage of the compound appeared. “And as you can see no one else is out and about.”

“Thank you,” Mina told the AI.  She got up from her bed and headed toward the kitchen to see what Bucky had made for them.  She still moved down the hall carefully. Once in the kitchen, she let out a little breath as she discovered the AI hadn’t tricked her into believing it was empty.

She moved over to the oven and pulled out whatever it was that Bucky had made.  She knew one thing, it smelled delicious. Her mouth was watering and she realized how hungry she was, the junk food hadn’t been enough to keep her full.

She laid the tray on the counter and pulled the foil back to reveal stuffed shells.  They were covered in a thick marinara sauce that smelled heavenly. She found a plate and scooped the shells onto it.

“Bucky would like to know if he can join you?”  Came the AI’s voice.

Mina paused, her fork hovering over the first shell.  “Has he not eaten?”

There was a moment of silence.  “No.”

She was shocked that he hadn’t eaten yet, that he was going to let her eat first.  “Uh, only if he wants.”

“You don’t sound sure, Bucky wanted to be sure you’d be okay with him coming in,” the AI replied.

Mina sat there chewing on her lip.  “He can… come in.”

A minute later Bucky appeared in the kitchen silently.  He walked over to the tray and got his own stuffed shells, but he didn’t join her at the bar.  He stood at the opposite end and began to eat. They ate in silence for a bit. “How are they?”  He broke the silence after polishing off the first shell.

“Good,” she said quietly.  “Thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do,” he said with a shrug.

He was perplexing to her.  He claimed that she loved him and he loved her, but he wasn’t trying to push her about feeling things.  Insisting that they were an item, forcing himself on her. The only thing he had been insistent on was that Shinsky wasn’t her master and that she had been a member of the Avengers.

“Why?”  The question slipped out before she could hold it back.

Bucky looked up from his food, an eyebrow raised, “Why what?”

She moved a piece of her shell around on her plate, not wanting to meet his intense gaze, “Why aren’t you insisting on things?  You claimed we were in love, but you don’t act like it…. You don’t try to kiss me or sleep with me.”

Bucky set his fork down, “Because I’m not that kind of person.  You don’t remember being in love with me so why try to force it on you and make you resent me.”

“You don’t think I resent you now?”  She asked a bit more harshly than she had intended too.

“Oh I know you resent me now,” he said.  “You think we took you from you ‘master’,” he used air quotes when he said ‘master’.  “You think we're stopping The Enclave from bringing world peace. I’m trying not to rush you into this because I’ve been exactly where you are.  I know what it’s like to be someone you’re not.”

Mina looked away from his intense gaze.  “I don’t know how you’re going to make me remember something that never happened.”

“I have video proof of you being here.  Of being with me. There are photos everywhere.”  

“Photos can be faked,” she pointed out.  “Photoshop, your AI could probably find images of me from newspapers and magazines, and insert them into these photos.”

“That seems like a lot of trouble to go through,” Bucky responded as he put his plate in the sink.  “When you want to see the videos of us together, of your time here then come find me.” He walked out of the kitchen without another word.

 

“Do you think she’ll go for it?”  F.R.I.D.A.Y. asked Bucky as he walked down the hall toward the surveillance room.  

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out.”

A moment later he heard her feet on the floor.  “Wait!” She called after him. He had to fight back the urge to smile.  “I want to see these videos.” He peered down at her, curiosity written all over her face.

“Come with me,” he led her toward the second floor surveillance room.  “This is one room you don’t have access to unless you're with one of us,” he told her as he had to override the lock to allow her and him inside.

She was greeted by a wall of monitors each one with a few of a different room in the compound and some outside.  There were none to the bedrooms though unless one of the doors happened to be open. She figured this must have been where he was the entire time he wasn’t around her.  Still keeping a silent vigil over her, making sure she didn’t do anything she shouldn’t. She had figured as much.

He began typing on the keyboard and pulled up a list of dates under a file labeled ‘MINA Memories”.  He clicked on the first link in the file and it pulled up a party. She was sitting on the bar talking with Pietro Maximoff, his twin sister wandered over and then Steve and Bucky appeared.  She was smiling at him and offered him her hand. She watched as a younger man, probably sixteen at the time hopped up onto the counter beside her. They were talking and chatting easily, she was smiling.

Bucky watched Mina as she watched the footage with narrowed eyes.  “Show me the next one.” She told him.

The next one was of her in front of Tony Stark.  He was giving her a mission to Wakanda with Bucky.  She looked thrilled to be going there with him. Tony asked her if she thought that she was ready which she replied yes to.

The next clip rolled, it was her and Bucky on one of the Quinjets.  She was reading a book, she had fallen asleep shortly after that, the book resting on her chest.  The next one started and it was her in Wakanda meeting King T’Challa and Princess Shuri for the first time.

Then she was in the library in Wakanda.  Bucky carrying her to bed. Her pacing back and forth in the waiting room of a medical area inside the palace.  Her falling asleep next to Bucky. All of these images were coming at her.

“Stop!”  She was breathing heavily.  “Please stop.” Bucky stopped the images.  “That couldn’t have been me,” she argued. “And I don’t know what sick game you’re trying to play with me, but it needs to stop.  I don’t love you and I never will!” She rushed to the door and ran down the hall toward her new room, her prison.

“That went well,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

“You think?”  Bucky groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little forewarning I won't be here for a week in September, I leave in like a month, but I wanted to give you all a little heads up so it just wasn't out of the blue. I don't know where we'll be at with this story by then, but I just wanted to give you a heads up. It'll be the second week in September. I'm going on vacation and I'm not taking my laptop with me, and I won't be able to post. I'll post about it before I leave. Hopefully, I won't leave y'all hanging on a big cliffhanger lol.


	5. Chapter 5

Two days later the other Avengers arrived back at the compound.  Bucky greeted them, and they could all see the dark shadows under his eyes.  Steve pulled Bucky aside and told him to go get some rest, that they would handle things from here.  Bucky protested a little, but in the end, his tiredness won out and he headed to his old room.

He hated staying in there all by himself.  He had been sleeping in Mina’s room since her kidnapping, trying to hold on to the smell of her, but he didn’t think that he would be welcome in there now.  

Steve and the others gathered in the surveillance room trying to see where Mina was.  They found her curled up in the library completely unaware of their presence in the building.  “Who wants to go tell her we’re back?” Tony asked.

They all just looked at one another.  “I’ll do it,” Pietro said. “Seeing as how you all are too scared to go talk to her.”

“It’s not that we’re scared,” Wanda said.  “It’s just that she’s not… her. She’s not Mina.”

Pietro shrugged, “She will always be my Little Mina, just like she will always be T’Challa’s Little Panther.  Just because her memories are gone right now doesn’t mean that they won’t be back and she won’t be the person we once knew.”

“All right Pietro, if you want to go see her and tell her we’re back then I won’t stop you,” Steve said.  “Just don’t do or say anything that could set her off.”

Pietro rolled his eyes, “I’m not going to walk in there and act like everything is back to normal.”  He headed for the door, he glanced back before he shut the door behind him, “If this goes well you all owe me a drink.”

“Just go,” Wanda shooed her brother away in exasperation.

Pietro made his way down to the library.  A blur on the screens as he ran through the halls.  When he reached the library he paused at the door, taking a deep breath he pushed the door open.  Mina’s head jerked up and she stood, her hands held out in front of her, ready to fight her way out of this situation if she had to.

“Hello Little Mina,” Pietro gave her an easy going smile.

She narrowed her eyes, “Pietro Maximoff, you were in Paris the night you all captured me.”

“You say captured, we say rescued.  But I’m not here to argue whether we kidnapped you or not.  We just thought we should tell you that we’re back.”

“So they sent you?”  She arched a brow, her arms slowly dropping to her sides.  “I thought they would have sent Steve Rogers or Tony Stark since they seem to be the leaders of the Avengers.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, “We talked about who would come to talk to you and I was the one that volunteered.  We used to be friends, Little Mina.”

Mina shook her head, “Stop calling me that.”

He smirked, “Why?  Does it bother you?”

“Because I’m sensitive about my height,” she shot back.  “And I don’t like pet names.”

“You let Shinsky call you his darling Siren Song,” Pietro shot back.  “By definition that is a pet name.”

“Shinsky is different, he’s my master.”  Oh that sent Pietro’s blood boiling, he knew exactly how Bucky felt every time Mina said this.  “He can call me whatever he wants. But we’re not friends, and we don’t know one another, and I don’t like pet names.”

Pietro was in front of her in a minute, she stumbled back against the couch, slightly frightened by his sudden burst of speed and presence in her space.  “ _ Don’t ever call him that in front of me again.   _ That monster is not your master, he is not your friend or whatever sick twisted thing you like this think he is to you.  He kidnapped you, brainwashed you, and caused your friends pain. Bucky has been a wreck for the past seven months, barely sleeping, barely eating.  He’s been so worried about you and none of us want to hear about the  _ good  _ you think that monster is doing.”  He turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

Mina sat on the couch, her eyes wide, her heart racing.  She stood up and quickly left the library. She didn’t want to be ambushed by any of the other members of the team.

When Pietro got back to the surveillance room everyone was quiet, having heard every word that Pietro had said to Mina.  “Not a word. I’m going to bed,” and before anyone could say anything they were gone.

 

Mina didn’t come out of her room for the rest of the week.  Bucky would come to her door, knock, tell her that he had left so food for her, and then walked away.  She would wait a few minutes before going to her door and picking up the food.

Bucky would return later that evening to find the tray he had left for her empty and waiting for him to pick it up outside her door.  One night he stood at the door with his head resting against it. He wanted to talk to her, he wanted to see her, and it killed him that he couldn’t just walk into the room like before.

Mina saw his shadow standing outside her door.  He had been there for the past five minutes. He had never done this before.  He always came, grabbed the tray and left. She hadn’t seen him since the night she had asked him to show her the videos.  She couldn’t get them out of her head, she kept replaying those scenes over and over. She heard her voice, saw herself laughing with them.  How was that even possible?

Carefully she slid off the bed and walked over to the door as quietly as she could.  She rested her head on the door listening, mirroring his position unknowingly. He had heard her walk over, tears flowing down his face.  “I miss you, Mina.”

Her heart picked began to race some.  She heard him pick the tray up and walk back down the hall.  She stood there for a moment feeling like she was lost in limbo.

 

The next day Mina dressed and ventured out of her room.  The kitchen was a little crowded with Natasha, Pietro, Wanda, Vision, Sam, Bucky, and Steve.  The room went quiet as they noticed Mina standing there. She was rubbing her right arm nervously, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.  

This was not a good idea.  These people were dangerous.  They had captured her.

And yet all they had done to her was insist that she was a member and slapped a bracelet on her that reduced her to a mere human.  They weren’t like what she had been led to believe they were.

She didn’t say anything as she headed toward the pantry to get the Pop Tarts down.  When she looked she found them at eye level. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked back to see that Bucky was watching her, the others trying to pretend like they didn’t notice the tension in the room.

She quickly looked away and pulled out a foil packet.  She opened it and headed for the door. “Do you want pancakes?”  His voice made her pause. She turned to see he already had a stack of them on a plate.  “We were making breakfast for everyone. You’re welcome to join.”

She shook her head and dashed out of the room like a skittish deer.

Steve walked over to his friend, “At least she came out of her room.”

“It’s not enough Steve,” he said.  “She’s afraid of me, of all of us.”  Unbeknownst to Bucky was she was standing outside the door listening in to see what they were going to say to her.  “What do I say to her? How do I get her to see that we’re not the bad guys? That The Enclave is?”

“It’ll take some time Barnes,” Natasha said.  “But today was good, she came out. Sure she didn’t speak to any of us, but she came out.  We just have to give her space, let her come to us.”

“We can leave again,” Sam offered.  “You said you had more luck with her when we weren’t here.  Maybe she’s staying away because she’s afraid we’ll ambush her.”

“You know,” there was a voice beside her and she jumped.  When she turned to see who had spoken she saw the young boy from the video of the party.  “It’s not polite to eavesdrop.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Buzz off kid, I don’t need a lecture from a thirteen year old.”

“I’m seventeen,” he responded.  

“Don’t care.”  She went to walk away but he kept pace with her.

“You know Shuri could probably help you get your memory back if you just asked her.  Her and T’Challa would be more than willing to help.”

“I don’t want them in my head, planting memories that aren’t really mine,” she wouldn’t look at him.  She was almost to the elevator where she would hopefully lose him at her room.

“Like The Enclave has done?”

She turned on him, “Would you all stop acting like the people who raised me are these awful beings?  I’m sick and tired of hearing about all the bad they want to do. You people are just ignorant.” She resumed her quick walk down the hall.

Peter stayed where he was, “The day they took you.  I was there. Caterina, she stopped me in the hall, froze me with her powers.  Then she came for you. When she brought you back down the hall and you stopped when you saw me.  You looked so scared and it killed me that I couldn’t do anything to help you. To save my friend.  You used to call me Spidey-Boy and I would call you--”

_ “Hey witchy woman!”  Peter called out to her as he joined her outside for a run. _

_ “Hey Spidey-Boy,” she laughed at the look that crossed his face.   _

The memory faded and she found herself murmuring, “Witchy Woman,” confused at where that term had come from.  No one had ever called her that before.

“Wait what did you just say?”  Peter perked up.

She glanced over her shoulder, “Nothing, I didn’t say anything.”  She pressed the button for the elevator quickly and when it came she got on and didn’t look at Peter, still reeling over what she had said.

Peter dashed into the dining room, “She remembered something!”  Everyone paused and looked toward him. “She remembered that I used to call her Witchy Woman.”

“How?”  Bucky asked.

“She was listening to you guys in the hall and I told her it wasn’t polite to eavesdrop on people.  She told me to leave her alone. And I followed her down the hall talking to her, mainly me doing the talking you could tell she wanted out of there some kind of bad.  But when I went to tell her what I used to call her she murmured ‘Witchy Woman’. At first I thought I was hearing things, but the way she hightailed it out of there and didn’t want to look at me confirmed my suspicions.

Bucky slumped against the counter.  Steve and the others smiling for a moment.  “I told you it would slowly start coming back to her.  This is good, it means that they weren’t able to wipe everything.  Little things like this will help her come back to us.”

 

That evening Bucky went to Mina’s room.  “Mina?” He asked as he knocked on the door.

“Go away,” she called out.

“Mina, can we please talk?  We can go to the roof.” She hadn’t been outside for some time now and he figured she might want some fresh air and a change of scenery.  

He heard her footsteps on the floor and she opened the door.  A frown on her face, “What part of ‘go away’ do you not understand?”

He grinned her trying to be serious, but her eyes gave her away.  She wanted to go outside. “Come on.” He motioned for her to follow him and headed for the stairs that led to the rooftop.  Once outside he heard her take in a deep breath, exhaling as she relaxed in the open air. “Aren’t you glad you came?” He plopped down onto one of the little couches that were set up on the roof.  A fire already going in the pit to help keep them warm.

She hesitantly took the seat across from him.  “I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet.” She grabbed the blanket that was draped across the back of her couch and wrapped it around herself.

Bucky leaned back and looked up at the stars.  “Do you know which constellation is Cassiopeia?”

She mimicked his position and pointed up to the zig zag in the sky.  “That one right there,” he followed her finger and smiled when he saw that she was pointing to the right cluster of stars.

“Do you know the story behind it?”

“Someone once told me,” she responded.  “A long time ago. I remember it because when I was in Paris I used to go out onto the balcony of my hotel and look up at the stars and wish that I was alone,” she didn’t know why she had admitted that out loud.  She cleared her throat and said, “The story is that she claimed she was the most beautiful, more beautiful than the Nereids in the sea. This angered the god Poseidon and he hung her in the sky upside down forever as her punishment.”

Bucky was watching her, hope flaring to life even more in his chest.  “Do you remember who told you?”

She shook her head, her eyes still locked on the brilliantly lit sky above her.  “No, the voice is distant, murky like I’m hearing it through water or something. I always just figured it was one of the guards from The Enclave that told me when I was younger.  But the others tell me that the guards weren’t allowed to interact with us when we were children.”

_ Probably because you were never children there,  _ Bucky thought to himself.

The two of them fell silent just admiring the night sky together.  He soon heard her breathing change and knew she had fallen asleep. He stood, stretching the kinks out of his muscles, and went over to where she was sound asleep.

He scooped her into his arms and carried her back to her bed.  He made sure she was covered up before he placed a featherlight kiss on her forehead, “Sweet dreams doll.”  He pulled the door shut behind him and headed down to his own room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been listening to the cover of Love Lies by First to Elven. I'm a little obsessed with the song lol.


	6. Chapter 6

A month had passed since the roof incident as Mina liked to think of it.  She had shocked herself by falling asleep in his presence, but there was just something so soothing about him.  Something that made her comfortable.

She liked how her heart rate would go up whenever he walked into a room she was in, or how when he laughed at something the others said she would feel warm all over.  Shinsky would punish her if he could see how she reacted around him. Her master would be furious with her. But she couldn’t control these feelings. She tried to reign them in, but there was nothing that she could do to make them go away.

She was still holding out hope that Shinsky would come for her, but as the more time passed the more she began to feel alone.  She felt like he would have come for her by now. She was fulfilling a very important mission in France and now she was stuck here.

She was in the library where she spent most of her days curled up with a book reading when Bucky came in grim faced.  “What?” Dread started to flow through her. Had it finally come to the time where they were going to toss her in a cell?  She knew she had gotten too comfortable here.

“Come with me, there’s something you need to see.”  

She followed him out of the room and up to the surveillance room where he had shown her the videos of herself a little less than a month ago.  The others were in there arguing with one another. “And I say we shouldn’t show her,” Tony was yelling at Steve.

“She has a right to know, Tony,” Steve argued back.  “She’s still a member of this team whether she believes it or not and you remember how keeping secrets from her went last time!”

Last time?  What last time?

“Uh boys?”  Natasha pointed to the doorway where Bucky and Mina were both standing.

Tony glared at Bucky, “Of course you went running to her.”

“Well she has a right to know.  I’m on board, Steve’s on board, Nat’s on board, basically all of us are on board except you.  And why is that Tony? What difference does it make if she sees the video from Shinsky or not?”

Mina looked up at Bucky, “Mas--”  She cut herself off when she saw Bucky’s jaw tighten and Pietro glared at her.  “Shinsky sent a message?” Happiness exploded within her. “You have to show me.”

Bucky looked down at her, the happiness on her face killing him inside.  He thought they had been making real headway with her, but in all reality she was just waiting to hear back from her kidnappers.  “Play it,” he growled to Steve.

Without hesitation, Steve hit the button and brought up a video message from Shinksy.  “Hello Avengers, how are you doing? I’m assuming you’re feeling pretty mighty now that you have my darling Siren Song.  She’s watching this right now isn’t she?” She saw her master smile, the smile that he reserved for his sirens. “Hello Mina, I am sorry that I have no come for you, but you see the Avengers are smart, they have found a way to disable your powers and I’m afraid that I can’t risk my men or your sisters to come get you.  You are on your own. If you manage to escape, which I doubt you will, then I will help you my darling. But for now I must leave you where you are.”

She stared at the screen with tears in her eyes.  He was leaving her here? But he had told her she was important to him.

“You know what this means don’t you?”  Wanda asked. She looked between the members of her team.  “He found a way to replicate her powers and is probably trying to give them to the other sirens.  He doesn’t need her anymore.”

“Shut up!”  She screamed at Wanda.  “He does need me! I’m important!  I was the first.”

Everyone fell silent.  Even as Mina said those words she wasn’t sure.  She had gone through so many experiments, had overheard conversations between Shinsky and the others about replicating her unique powers.  Could they really have done it? Did they need her now when they could just make more like her?

She felt exposed.  Thrown away like some used tissue.  

“Mina,” Bucky’s voice was soft, she felt his hands brush the skin on her arm.  She jerked away from him. “Mina,” he sounded desperate now.

She turned and raced out of the room.  She tugged on doors trying to find a room where she could just escape, just have a few hours alone where they wouldn’t find her, but every one she came to was locked.

She was almost to the stairs when she felt a pair of arms go around her and lift her up.  She struggled against them, realizing that it was Bucky when she felt the cool metal of his left arm.  “No!” She screamed at him. “Put me down!”

He tossed her over his shoulder and began walking down the hall.  “You’ll thank me in a minute.” He pushed a door open, one that led outside and began heading down a path into the woods.

Soon they came to a little, deserted park and he sat her down on the ground.  She shoved him away, but it didn’t do much good since she was shaking so badly and didn’t have her usual strength, but Bucky respected her wishes and backed away from her as she broke down.

He watched her helplessly from where he stood.  “I’m useless,” she sobbed, she dropped to her knees and covered her face with her hands.  “I failed him.”

Bucky’s breath hitched and he couldn’t stay away from her a moment longer.  “No, Mina, doll. You aren’t useless. And you’re not a failure, not to me. Never to me,” his voice was soft and his words caused the butterflies in her stomach to become active.

She met his gaze, her eyes red and puffy, “Of course I am.  I failed Shinsky, and I can’t even remember you or the others despite everything you’ve shown me.  There’s so much that I just don’t understand.” She shook her head and averted her gaze, she couldn’t take the intense look he was giving her.

“Mina Gaspari, you are the least useless person I know.  You went to Wakanda barely out of training with Steve to protect the people from insurgents who we didn’t realize were The Enclave.  You took down three of their men by yourself. You took care of me when I had been shot, fussing over me like a mother hen,” he chuckled as he recalled the argument the two of them had had.  He tucked some hair away from her face. “You are not a failure, you are not useless. You are strong, independent, and the love of my life.”

She threw her arms around him and squeezed.  Safe, she was safe with him. She trusted him.  She couldn’t understand why, but he was so open with the looks he sent her way.  With what he told her. The sincerity when he told her that she was the love of his life.  She believed every word he said. “What do we do now?”

“We try to get your memories back,” he said simply.  “We start slowly. Little things. Maybe get you back into a routine that you used to have.  Training with Steve and Wanda. Although I doubt the others would want to remove the bracelet until you regain more of your memories.”

He pulled away, cradling her wrist in his hand.  He played with it and she knew that he was thinking of taking it off.  “You don’t have to,” she whispered knowing that he couldn’t trust her yet.  All of this could have been for show.

He gave her a pained look, “I wish I could doll.  I really do.”

“I understand, you can’t trust me.  Believe me, I understand.” She moved her arm so her hand was in his, linking their fingers together.  He squeezed it. “So were we always in love?” She looked up from their entwined hands to his eyes.

He huffed a laugh, “Oh no.  I tried to avoid you at all costs because I had a little crush on you that only got worse as time went on.  You admired me. You visited the Smithsonian where they have an exhibit about me when you were about fifteen.  You had a crush on me, and finally we just stopped denying it after you were almost killed.”

“The Enclave?”  She questioned.

He nodded, “We broke, actually you broke in, into one of their bases in Cape Town.  That’s where we first learned about their existence.”

He pulled her over to one of the swings and they sat down.  He told her about their first date on the roof of the Wakandan palace.  He left out what they had done that night after dinner, but he saw her touching her neck as if she were remembering the hickeys that he had left there.  He bit his lip trying to push the memories out of his head.

 _Not the time,_ he chastised himself.  But it was hard when he had just held her, could smell her, and felt her soft skin under his fingers.  Eight months of not being able to touch her and this little bit of skinship wasn’t nearly enough.

“Bucky?”  He noticed her cheeks were red.  

He realized that he had been staring at her while biting his lip and sharing some NC 17-rated thoughts about her.  “Sorry,” he felt his cheeks heating as he looked away from her.

To break the tension she asked, “Why do you never seem to shave?”

Bucky ran a hand over his beard, he kept it in shape, but it was true, he hadn’t shaved.  “You asked me to grow it back a few days before you were kidnapped. You also asked me to grow my hair back out.”  His hair was definitely longer than the last time she had seen him.

“I like it,” she admitted, she didn’t look at him.  She didn’t want to look at him as she said this. “Which is surprising because I’ve never been a big fan of beards.”

He chuckled, “I must say I do prefer my clean shaven look better, it’s easier to maintain.”

“Well then don’t keep it just for me.  If you want to shave it then please do.”  She felt bad that he was keeping it for her and only her.

“I’ll think about it,” he said after a moment.

The two of them swang there for a little bit longer, enjoying the sun and the fresh air.  “I like it here. It’s peaceful.”

“It’s one of my favorite places on the Avengers’ property.  I come here sometimes when I want to be alone. I don’t know if Steve knows I like it here.  He’s never come looking when I sneak out of the compound and come here.”

“While I was gone did you spend a lot of time here?”

“I did,” he told her.  “Being around the others while they were looking for you was hard.  For the longest time I was despondent. Retreating in on myself. I just knew that they were doing to you what they did to me and it killed me.”

Mina wasn’t sure what she should say.  How was she supposed to respond to that?  “Uh, should we head back?”

“Probably,” he responded.  “I don’t really want to.”

“I don’t either,” she responded.

They stayed there for a little bit longer before he led her back to the compound and dropped her off at her room promising to bring dinner back later that evening.  She asked him to join her so she wouldn’t be alone. He happily agreed.

 

“She’s back with us,” Bucky told Alia and Marcus.  “She just doesn’t remember anything.”

Alia broke down into tears and Marcus looked relieved, saying a prayer in Italian.  “When can we see her?” Marcus asked.

“I don’t know, but I want to bring her by here.  One day when you’re not here. I want to see if it will trigger any of her memories, but I don’t want her to know she’s been here before or make her feel forced into remembering things.”

Alia wiped her eyes with a napkin.  “Please let us see her, it’s been eight months.  She’s our little girl, we have a right to see her.”

Marcus shook his head, “He’s right Alia, this is a delicate situation.  We need to handle it with care.”

Bucky was happy that Marcus agreed with him on this.  “I promise as soon as she feels ready I will bring her to you.  I don’t want to keep her from you, but this is a sensitive situation as Marcus said.”

Alia sighed and nodded, “All right.  When do you want to bring her here?”

“Two weeks, I can call before I bring her in that way you all won’t be here and then once we get back I’ll call again and let you know what happened.”

“Fine.  Just… please take care of her.”

“I will,” he took Alias hands in his and squeezed them.  “I want her to remember her life too, but I know what she’s going through and it’s not an easy process.  Forcing her memories isn’t going to help.”

The pizzas that Bucky ordered were finished and he left the shop with a promise to call them more often to give them updates on Mina’s process.  When he got back to the compound Mina was there waiting for him. A smile on her face.

“Those smell delicious.  Where did you get them from?”  She took one of the boxes from him and headed back over to the couch she had occupied.

“Little Slice of Napoli,” he replied.  “If you like them I’ll take you there one day for a little field trip.”

“I’d like that,” she responded as she pulled one of the slices out of the box.  Bucky had them make all of Mina’s favorites. She took the first bite and closed her eyes as if in heaven, “Oh yeah, I want you to take me there.”  She devoured the pizza and the two of them watched movies. He found that she still quoted her favorite parts seemingly unaware of what she was doing, and he didn’t comment on it.

He was feeling a lot better about how she was progressing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the last chapter have been longer than usual. I guess it's because I've been excited to write this book. I've had the idea for this part since I started writing the story. And I'm so excited for you all to see what else I have in store for this series. I'm also working on one for Steve. Mina will not be in that series though, poor Bucky isn't going to have a girlfriend in this.


	7. Chapter 7

Bucky and Mina were in a car together heading to Little Slice of Napoli to get pizza.  It had been two weeks since Bucky had gone to see her parents and he knew it was time to get Mina out of the compound.  She had been training with Wanda and Steve, but she was still missing her memories. He knew she was getting more and more frustrated with herself and with everyone in the compound constantly watching her.

_Not all of them were on board with training her and possibly removing the bracelet.  “She’s playing you, Barnes,” Tony had argued with him one day. “She may not have her siren abilities, but she’s using her knowledge that you love her against you.”_

_“She’s not,” Bucky fired back._

_Steve held up his hands, “Buck, we all know how badly you want this to work, and yes she has remembered little bits and pieces, but there’s still a lot she doesn’t remember, nothing concrete that she can trust is the truth or just her own imagination.  She may still want to get back to Shinsky. This could be apart of her scheme, their scheme if she was ever captured by us.”_

_“You didn’t see her that day!”  Bucky growled at them. “She was sobbing.  She was hurt, pained. Why won’t you trust me?”_

_“You can’t tell me for certain that if Shinsky were to show up right now and gave her the choice of staying here or going with him that she wouldn’t choose him.  He’s her ‘master’.” Tony crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the rest of them, “I think the answer is pretty damn clear. We still can’t trust her, not until she shows more signs of improvement.”_

_Bucky had stormed out of the room walked down the hall and right past Mina who had been looking for him.  “Bucky?” She called out in confusion. She looked back when she saw Steve coming out of the surveillance room a regretful look on his face.  He caught Mina’s eye, “He tried to get you to remove the bracelet didn’t he?”_

_“How did you know?”_

_“He fiddles with it,” she shrugged.  “Like he wants to rip it right off, plus that day after the video message from Shinsky he told me he wished he could, but that you all still didn’t trust me and that I could be playing him.”  She tugged at it, “I know you all are still wary of me. I don’t blame you. I’ll talk to him.”_

_“You don’t have too,” Steve told her._

_“No, I think he’ll listen to me.  I’m still technically a captive here, don’t deny it.  Until I get these supposed memories back or Shinsky comes for me,” she sighed softly.  “I’ll talk to him when he comes back.”_

That had been several days ago, and Mina could tell that it still bothered him no matter how much he denied it.  She just wanted everything to be okay, but until she triggered her memories tensions were going to run high within the compound.

Bucky parked the car and the two of them got out.  He offered her his hand, something he did a lot now.  She knew that he liked the reassurance that she was still there with him, and she liked the warmth, the fluttery feeling in her stomach.

They had a strange relationship.  Not quite friends, not quite lovers.  But it worked, this limbo of a relationship.  He didn’t pressure her for more than she was willing to give.  Something that not many people had awarded her in life.

A hostess greeted Bucky warmly, he must have come here a lot, Mina mused to herself.  She sat them at a booth in the back where it was more private, away from the others in the restaurant for lunch.

The smells coming from the kitchen were making her stomach growl.  “It smells good in here,” she said as she looked around. There were pictures of the original restaurant in New York City, and then some of Italy.  She could hear the sounds of the kitchen staff talking in the back. Most of them conversing in Italian, but every once in a while she could hear a few English words mixed in.

“Best pizza in the area,” he agreed.  “I know the owners, they’re great.” He didn’t offer up their names, but Mina didn’t seem to notice, she was lost in one of the images hanging on the wall.

_There was an explosion and screams coming from outside.  “Ma!” Mina felt herself rushing forward. The woman from the picture in her room on the compound was lying on the tile floor of the restaurant,  “Ma, are you okay?”_

_The older woman groaned and tried to sit up, but winced and gripped her head in pain.  “I’m fine, just a little bump on my head.” She looked up at Mina, assessing her for any injuries that she might have sustained, “What about you?  Are you okay?”_

_“I’m fine Ma, nothing major.”  She lifted her mother up and the two of them headed to the back where the workers and customers were huddled together._

_“What’s going on out there?”  One of the customers asked with a shaky voice._

_“We don’t know,” Marcus replied.  “Some kind of attack.”_

_There were more explosions and they heard the building rattling.  The customers and a few of the others let out little screams of terror.  “We need to get out of here, it isn’t safe,” Mina said. “This place is going to collapse on us.”_

_“Where are we supposed to go?”  A woman asked, she was clutching a child to her, shielding the boy’s body from any harm that might befall them.  “It’s a war zone out there!”_

_Mina peaked over the counter and saw Captain America standing outside.  He was shouting orders to some police officers. “There’s Captain America, he can help.”  She turned back to the others. “But we need to go now.”_

_Everyone exchanged wary glances, but nodded and started rushing for the door.  Mina was the last one rushing out and she did the building began to cave in as another explosion hit the side.  She heard her parents scream her name, but the collapse never came._

_Nothing fell on her.  She looked up to see a weird turquoise glow above her.  Her hands were on fire. She didn’t even question it as she ran out of the building toward her parents._

“Mina?”  Bucky had a worried look on his face.  She had just zoned out for several long minutes.  “Everything all right?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah everything is fine.”  She wasn’t sure if she should tell him about whatever that had been.  She didn’t want to get his hopes up for something that could have just been her imagination.

A waiter came over and took their order promising to be back in a few with their drinks.  Bucky and Mina talked quietly waiting for the waiter to come back so that they could talk about more sensitive topics once they were alone.

The drinks arrived and the waiter left.  “So tell me something that I used to do that you loved,” she took a sip of her Coke and sat back against the booth bench.

“That’s easy, you used to sing in Italian while you were in the shower.  You were always so embarrassed when you’d come out and find me there, but you had a beautiful singing voice.  After a while you didn’t mind me listening any more.”

“Did I have a favorite song to sing?”  She was curious now. She loved to sing, but hardly ever did it when she was at The Enclave or even in Paris on the rare occasions she was alone.

“Not really,” he responded.  “If you did I don’t know the name of it.  But you liked Etta James’s _Sunday Kind of Love._ You sang that a lot in the shower.  We even danced to it one night.”

She hummed trying to recall the words to any of the songs she knew, but they were a little murky.  “Music wasn’t a big part of my life when I was at The Enclave’s headquarters. I guess if they wanted to keep memories away then they didn’t want me listening to something that could trigger it.”

“Music does have a way of making you recall things you thought you had forgotten.”  The waiter came back over interrupting their conversation and dropped the pizza off with a couple of plates for them.

Bucky let Mina pick her slices before he choose his.  “Such a gentlemen,” she had giggled.

He gave her a lopsided grin, “I try.”

They finished eating, but sat in the booth for a long time talking and laughing with one another.  Bucky was happy to see her smiling. He remembered the last time he had seen her, how scared she had looked as he left her in the room.

Bucky paid and led her back out to the car.  He didn’t turn off to head back to the compound.  “Where are we going?” She looked over at Bucky in confusion.  “That was the turn back there.”

“It’s a surprise,” he glanced over at her with a smile on his face.  He was driving with one hand on the wheel, the other resting on her thigh, she was tracing patterns on the top of it.  “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation.  

“Good,” the continued to drive down the road until they came to a Barnes and Noble.  “I remembered you said you had finished one book in a series you liked, but didn’t have the rest of them so I thought I’d bring you here.”

She stared up at the sign, blinking.  “But I have no money.”

“Don’t worry about it doll, I’ll take care of it.”  He removed his hand from her thigh and got out of the car.  She followed him out and they headed across the parking lot toward the front doors.  “Be free,” he whispered once they were inside.

She moved through the stacks of books looking for the series that she liked.  She found a couple new books, and when she put them back on the shelf Bucky would grab them wordlessly as he trailed behind her.

She had even realized he was doing it.  She was just trying to find the books she liked.  When she did find them she turned to Bucky and saw the stack in his arms.

 _“Is that all?”  He asked a little baffled._ _  
_   
Mina smiled at him, “As much as I appreciate you offering to buy out the store for me, I’m not going to get a ton of books.”

She blinked back the memory.  “Bucky what are you doing?”

“Buying you books, what does it look like?”  She looked up from the books to his beautiful blue eyes.  “Don’t say anything. I’m getting these for you.” She calmly picked up the other books she had originally come in to get and headed for the checkout, ignoring all other books that were calling her name.  “Done already doll?”

“Yeah,” she said.  “I’ve gotten all I came for.”

Bucky huffed a laugh, same old same old.  He paid and they headed back to the compound, Mina thinking over the two memories she had had that day.  

Two.

Of course one of the memories had been very short.  She looked over at Bucky, his eyes glued to the road.  What else was she missing about him? About the rest of them?  As soon as they got home she took the bags of books from him and told him that she wanted to be alone for a bit.

She hurried to her room and found an empty notebook.  She pulled out a pen and began scribbling the memories down, dating where she remembered them and what day it was.  She sat back and added a few notes, other things that had always seemed odd that she remembered, but could never recall where they had come from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've got a ways to go before she's regained everything. But I think I have a good idea of how I want that to happen :D


	8. Chapter 8

Kick.  Duck. Swing.  Duck. Sidestep.

Mina was breathing heavily as she sparred with Steve in the ring.  They were the only two currently in the room. Sam had been in there for a little while, but he finished and went to go do his shift for patrol.  

Steve was not holding his punches today.  He seemed determined to knock her on her ass.  He was assessing her, seeing what her strengths and weaknesses were.  She fought much the same as she had when he had been training her with a few minor differences.  She wasn’t holding back as much when she fought him now.

She managed to knock him to the ground and hold him there, her legs wrapped around his neck.  He tapped her on the leg and she released him. He stood up, wiping the sweat from his forehead.  “Tell me, have you remembered anything lately?”

She grabbed her water bottle and took a long swig, wondering how she should answer this.  He would probably know if she was lying. “I think so,” she said honestly. “I remembered an attack on New York City.”

“The Chitauri, when you discovered your powers,” he responded.

She nodded her head, “You know?”

“I didn’t know then that you had powers, we didn’t even get to meet.  I just know that’s what you told me. You saved the lives of the people in your parents’ restaurant that day.  The building almost collapsed on you as you made your escape, but you managed to stop the building from falling.  Not an easy accomplishment, especially for someone who was untrained.  Your adrenaline probably kept you alive.”

She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her arm.  “I could feel my fear, and my astonishment when I realized that I wasn’t dead.”  She bounced back and forth on her feet. “Then I remembered something briefly when Bucky took me to the bookstore yesterday.  In the memory he seemed surprised to see that I hadn’t picked out more books.”

Steve grinned, “I remember that too.  He came home completely baffled by the fact that he set you loose in a bookstore and you picked out like five books? But you hated the idea of him spending a lot of money on you.”

The two of them began sparring again, but less aggressively this time.  “Did I love him?”

That made Steve pause, his guard dropping.  “You loved him so much you were willing to put yourself through whatever The Enclave had planned for you to keep him alive.  Of course you also did it to save our lives. If you hadn’t left when you did then Nat would have been a treasured memory. She had been hit pretty badly and was losing a lot of blood.”

“My body reacts to him like it knows him.  I’ve never experienced feelings for other men, not like I have with Bucky.”  Her cheeks flushed as Steve watched her intently. “The first day I was here, his body brushed against mine and I shivered which has never happened before.  I’m normally repulsed by men. I should have been repulsed by him, you all captured me. But here he was and I shivered,” she still couldn’t believe it. “My heart races, I get shortness of breath, I like how his hand feels in mine.  If Shinsky knew any of this he would beat me within an inch of my life to teach me a lesson.”

“Mina,” Steve’s voice was soft.  “I’m so sorry we ever let this happen to you.  I know that probably doesn’t mean a lot, but we’ve all been so worried about you.  You’re a member of this team and part of our family, and we failed you.”

“At The Enclave we aren’t a family.  We don’t look out for one another. We try to tear each other down, make sure we’re on top.  I was always the favorite of the scientists because of my other abilities. The other Sirens like to say we’re sisters, but we look for weaknesses, any way to stay in Shinsky’s favor.  Then Amara was beaten one day after falling in love with her target. We all had to stand there and watch, Shinsky telling us we would be next if we ever did the same thing as her.”

“What happened to Amara?”

Mina met his gaze, “I did something no other Siren has done before.  I helped her heal. I went to her room and cleaned up her wounds, bandaged her up, and sat with her for a while in silence.  She looked at me at one point and asked why I had helped. Why had I? I didn’t know and I told her that. She then said that none of the other girls, not even her, would have come to help if anyone of us had been in her position.  Maybe I wanted a friend. Amara trusted me more after that. And…. I helped her escape.”

Steve’s eyes widened, “You went against The Enclave?”

“She was so unhappy there, she wanted to be free.  I knew she’d be safer outside headquarters. So I watched the guard rotations, the shift changes for the scientists and other Sirens, and then I marked off where there were cameras.  The guards are immune to our abilities because they have earpieces like yours. I put her on a boat off the island in one of the little villages and they made sure she was safe.”

“Villages?”

Mina nodded, “There are smaller villages close to the ocean.  They live in fear of The Enclave. They were more than willing to get her off the island.  They offered to take me, but I-I felt like I still had a duty to Shinsky, to them.”

“Did you ever think that maybe they were abusing you in other ways?”  Steve asked cautiously.

“Not until recently,” she admitted.

The door to the gym opened and Natasha stepped inside.  “I’ve come to take over,” she said with a devious grin.

“You good?”  Steve asked Mina.

“Yeah, go do whatever it is you do in your free time.”  She waved him off as Natasha swung into the ring. Mina turned to Natasha, “So what are we going to do today?”

The door shut behind Steve and Natasha grabbed Mina’s hand, “We’re not training that’s for damn sure.”  Natasha pulled Mina back to her room. “Take a shower and put on comfortable clothes. Wanda and I are taking you shopping.”

Mina perked up, “Really?”

Natasha started to laugh, “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you excited about going shopping for clothes.”

“I didn’t like to do it before?”  Mina asked in a confused tone.

“Not really, you did it when you had to, but otherwise you were fine not to do it at all.”  Natasha sashayed back toward the door. “Meet us at the door when your done.”

Mina showered quickly and threw on a pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt.  She grabbed her purse and went racing down the hall. She nearly ran into Bucky, who was heading to her room to see if she wanted to grab lunch with him.  “Sorry, Buck!” She shouted as she jogged backward. “I’ll be back later.” She turned back around and headed for the front doors leaving Bucky standing in the hall confused.

 

The mall was a large two story building with shops for days.  It was quiet for a Tuesday afternoon. Most people either at work or school.  Some people you could tell were tourists by the way they dressed and gawked at certain things.

Natasha, Wanda, and Mina all walked side by side as they weaved their way through the first floor trying to decide which stores they wanted to go in and which ones they wanted to avoid.  Wanda and Natasha would argue with one another, but Mina was just glad to be out of the compound for a few hours.

They entered the Macy’s and started weaving their way around the racks picking up things.  Natasha held up a few dresses for Mina to see and Mina eagerly snatched them out of Natasha’s hands.  She saw the amused looks that Wanda and Natasha were giving her and asked, “What?”

“The last time we tried putting you in a dress you nearly had a fit,” Wanda snickered.  “But it worked out in the end because Bucky admitted his feelings for you.”

“He did?”  She clutched the hanger of the dress a little tighter trying to recall the long forgotten memory, but nothing was coming to mind.  Then an idea hit her, “Do I still own that dress?”

Natasha tapped a finger against her chin, “I think you do.  We can check when we get back. Why?”

“I want to see if it will trigger any memories,” Mina told her.  “When I was in Barnes and Noble with Bucky the other day I remembered a brief moment with him in that same store.  If I can find things and recreate memories maybe I can trigger something.”

“We can help you,” Wanda offered.  “We helped you get ready that night.”

“Really?”  Mina gave them a shy smile.  “Thank you.” The other two woman smiled at her and they continued to shop.

When they arrived back at the compound they had an armload of bags from all the different stores they had gone to.  Steve and Sam were standing in the hallway talking with Tony and Bucky. Sam let out a low whistle. “Did you ladies leave anything else for the other shoppers, or is the mall sold out?”

Wanda stuck her tongue out at Sam, “We didn’t buy a lot.”

“I think Bucky will like some of the things Mina bought today,” Natasha said impishly.  She smirked as Mina’s and Bucky’s cheeks turned red, both of them looking away from each other.  “Very stylish and sexy.”

“I, uh, I need to go try my new clothes on and make sure I like them,” Mina dashed down the hall as quickly her feet would carry her.

Bucky shot Natasha a look, “Way to go Nat.”

She looked so smug, “Oh trust me, you’ll be thanking me later when she fully remembers you.”

Sam was laughing, “Need to take a cold shower there Buck?”

He shot the other man a look, “Shut it, Wilson.”  Then he started walking down the hall, “I’ll see you guys later.”

His departure was followed by the sounds of laughter echoing down the hall.

 

That weekend Mina called Natasha and Wanda up to her room to help her find the dress she had worn the night Bucky had admitted how he felt for Mina.  They rifled through her closet until Natasha pulled out the black dress and shouted “Ah-ha!”

She tossed it at Mina and both Natasha and Wanda watched her as she examined it.  Mina felt the fabric, thought she heard the distant sounds of club music banging in her ears.  “Nothing yet,” she admitted.

“That’s all right, just go put it on and then we’ll fix your hair and makeup like you had it that night,” Wanda told her with a smile.

Mina took the dress into her bathroom and quickly slipped it on.  It clung to her skin and showed a little bit of her cleavage off, her back exposed.  She felt sexy, but her heart was also racing. “You can do this,” she whispered to herself before she exited the bathroom to let Wanda and Natasha do her makeup and hair.

They worked for an hour on her hair and makeup and then told her that she was ready.  Her hair was up in a simple updo, her makeup was smoky. Her lips were a light pink, and her turquoise eyes were brighter because of the darker makeup.

“Holy crap,” she whispered.

Wanda and Natasha high fived one another.  “Go get him, tiger,” Natasha steered her toward the door.  “You have the common room all to yourselves. We made sure everyone else was locked up for the night.”

“Thank you, you guys,” Mina gave them a watery smile.  “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

They gave her a thumbs up before heading to the surveillance room where the others were waiting with snacks, drinks, and a bet on who would kiss who first.

Natasha sat down on Steve’s lap and stole some of his popcorn and took a swig from his beer.  “She just left for Bucky’s room.” Tony brought up the camera for the hallway to Bucky’s room and they saw her heading for his door.

She looked nervous.  “It’s funny, she looks just as nervous as she did the night we went to the club,” Sam said.  “Let’s hope someone doesn’t interrupt them again.”

Everyone shot a look at Peter who had his popcorn halfway to his mouth, “What?  I didn’t know they were about to lock lips!”

They all tossed pieces of popcorn at him before turning their attention back to the screen.  Mina was just now raising her hand to knock. All of them watching in rapt suspense to see what Bucky’s reaction was going to be when he opened the door.

Meanwhile Mina was talking to herself trying to work up the courage to actually knock on the door.  “You can do this. It’s simple. Just knock on the door.” She raised her hand, took in a deep breath and knocked.

“One second!”  She heard Bucky call out.  She heard him pad across the floor and then the door was open and he was standing before her, his eyes wide as he took in the dress.  “Uh hey doll, is that the, um, dress from the night we almost kissed?”

Mina was feeling a bit dizzy, “Yeah it is, Wanda and Natasha found it.  I was hoping it would trigger some memories. They have the common room set up for us, said that everyone was tucked in for the night and we wouldn’t be disturbed.”

“Good, last time Peter interrupted before I got to kiss you.”  He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, “Not that that’s going to happen this time, it just was a disappointing moment when it happened.”

She grinned and shook her head, “Stop babbling and get dressed, we’re going dancing.”

He grinned at her then, “Whatever you say doll.  Just wait right here, I’ll be out in a second.” He shut the door and went to get dressed.  Both of them feeling a bit giddy about this little dancing date that had been set up for them.  When Bucky came out he offered her his arm, “Shall we?”

She took it, “We shall.”

“Ten bucks says they’re watching us right now,” Bucky whispered in her ear.

“What makes you say that?”

“Because they’re nosy,” he responded.  “They're probably even betting on if we’ll kiss or not.”

“I don’t know if you’ve earned that privilege or not soldier,” she told him.  “But if you play your cards right you might get a peck on the cheek.”

“What if I steal a kiss?”  He asked with a mischievous grin.

“Oh you’ll have to catch me first,” she responded with a grin of her own.

“You’re in heels doll, I think I can catch you.”  He opened the door to the common room for her. “Let the fun begin,” he whispered in her ear as he went to start the music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day this week I might not be able to post. Something happened to one of the power lines in front of my house and they might have to cut my power to fix it. So just to let you know. Also if it happens to be tomorrow so sorry for this little cliffhanger.


	9. Chapter 9

The music that Bucky choose wasn’t anything like the loud, pulsing club music she was used to.  It was slower, with soulful singers and a pace you could sway to. Mina didn’t mind, she didn’t want to pretend to be in a club with Bucky.  She just wanted to be in his arms to see if the memory would come back to her.

Bucky walked back over to her and wrapped one arm around her waist and took one of her hands in his.  Their bodies were close together, his hand was splayed on her lower back. She looked up at him to see that his eyes were dark, the blue almost devoured by his pupils.

She swallowed, her mind flashing back to earlier when he had said something about stealing a kiss from her.  She honestly couldn’t care less if he stole a kiss right then and there. With how close their bodies were, the way he was looking at her, and the smell of his familiar cologne it was making her toes curl and a fluttery feeling in her stomach she had grown so accustomed to when she was around him.

“I hate it when your hair is up,” he admitted.  They stopped dancing and his hands snaked up to the pins holding her hair in place.  One by one they fell to the floor sending her hair cascading down her back. He released a breath, “Better.”

She was about to say something when the song changed and she was sucked into a memory.

 _When the song changed she heard someone say, “Can I cut in?”_   
  
_Sam and Mina looked up to see Bucky standing there.  “Sure man. Save me another dance, Mina.” He gave her a conspiratorial wink as he walked away from her to where the others were on the edge of their seats watching to see what Bucky would do next._   
  
_He pulled her so close that there wasn’t space left between them.  Her heart was racing and she was so sure he could feel it. “You’ve been driving me insane all night doll.”_   
  
_Her breath caught in her throat, she couldn’t keep it in, “Bucky, I know.  I know that you have feelings for me.”_   
  
_“Do you now?  Let me guess Natasha told you,” he assumed the spy would be the one to tell her.  He knew the game she was playing._   
  
_“Yes,” Mina answered truthfully.  “And I like you too.”_   
  
_Bucky tugged her hair down, his fingers tangling in the long, black locks.  He seemed to relax as soon as he did so, “So much better.”_   
  
_She gripped the lapels of his shirt, “Bucky, why did you lie and tell me I walked back to my room that night?”_   
  
_He leaned down so his forehead was resting on hers.  “Because I didn’t want you to know. Probably for the same reason you didn’t tell me that you had kissed my forehead that night in my recovery room.”  She stiffened slightly, “It’s okay doll, but I wanted to pull you down and kiss you for real. I spilled my guts to you that night. I told you how I felt, but you were asleep and didn’t hear a word.”_   
  
_Her dream came flooding back to her.  “I did,” she whispered. “I dreamed that you had confessed.  I must have heard you and it translated into my dream.”_   
  
_“Hmm, if only you had known.”  She nodded and she felt him moving closer, she closed her eyes and tipped her head up a little knowing they were about to kiss._   
  
_Their lips were so close to touching and then they both froze as they heard Peter’s voice, “_ Guys, we found them.  Suit up, we need help. _”_   
_  
Both of them growled.  “Later doll,” Bucky promised, sending shivers down Mina’s spine._

Mina gasped, “Peter needed our help.”

Bucky stared at her with a bewildered look.  “What?”

She looked up at him and gripped his arms, “Peter!  He needed our help! He had found someone. Sam… I had been dancing with Sam and you cut in.  We were about to kiss, but then Peter’s voice interrupted us.”

A smile broke out onto Bucky’s face and he lifted her into his arms and swung her around, she laughed giddily and threw her arms around his neck holding on for dear life.  When he sat her back down his threaded his fingers in her hair and God was that the best feeling in the world to him. “You remembered,” he whispered in astonishment. “Is that your first memory?”

She shook her head, her hands gripping his forearms and she grinned up at him.  “The other day in the restaurant I remembered the day I discovered my abilities, and then in the bookshop a small memory of you being confused as to why I hadn’t bought more books.”

He wanted to kiss her, but settled for a lingering kiss on her forehead.  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up,” she looked up at him through her lashes.  “I told Steve, just to kind of confirm that what I saw actually happened and wasn’t just a product of my imagination.  From then I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you. But I figured if I remembered something tonight then I would tell you.”

He brushed his thumb across her cheek, “I’m glad you’re remembering things, doll.  But don’t push yourself okay?”

“I won’t,” she whispered.  “Can we get back to our dance soldier?  My memory sort of interrupted us.” She looped her arms around his neck and moved closer to him.  He held onto her tightly as they danced together.

In the surveillance room, Steve stood up and shut the monitor off eliciting complaints from the others in the room.  He shot them all a look and said, “They deserve their privacy.”

“Come on Rogers,” Natasha groaned.  “We wanted to see how the rest of the date went.”

He glared at her, “Nat.”

She sighed, “Fine.”

The rest of them got up grumbling about how it wasn’t fair.  Steve was the last to leave the room making sure F.R.I.D.A.Y. kept the rest of them out of the room until Mina and Bucky had finished with their date.  She promised to turn the security cameras off in the room as an extra precaution.

He got back to his room and found Natasha lounging on his bed, “You’re so mean Rogers.  I had twenty bucks on the night would end with a kiss.”

He bent down and kissed her gently, “They deserve their privacy.”

“You’re only saying that because he’s your friend and you have a soft spot for her,” Natasha said as he entered the bathroom to get ready for bed.

“And you just wanted to watch because you all had a bet going,” he peaked around the corner and grinned at her.  “They haven’t had a moment like this in a long time, they deserve some privacy as I have said several times already.”

“Fine, but you better make it up to me,” she said with a seductive smile.

He chuckled and walked back over to the bed, kissing her a bit more fiercely this time.  “Tell me what you want me to do.”

 

Mina woke the next morning with a smile on her face.  She and Bucky had spent most of the night dancing in each other’s arms, laughing and talking together.  She had gone to bed with the smell of him on her and woke up to it.

She hadn’t wanted the night to end, but she had grown sleepy and Bucky had picked her up and carried her back to her room.  The gesture hauntingly familiar as if she were about to have another memory, but nothing came.

He had taken her shoes off for her, unzipped her dress part of the way since she couldn’t quite reach the top of the zipper, placed a kiss on her shoulder, and left with a quiet goodnight.

She had slept in her underwear, too tired to get up and put something else on.  She slowly got out of bed, her feet still aching from the heels she had been wearing and got into the shower.  She had been in there for a few minutes when she started singing a song in Italian. She didn’t even question it, she just rolled with it.

In the kitchen she discovered Bucky was all alone and he was making waffles.  She walked over and pecked him on the cheek. He looked down at her and grinned, “What was that for?”

“I just felt like it,” she responded with a smile.  “Can’t I just spontaneously kiss you?”

“Anytime you want, doll,” he passed her a plate with several waffles on them.  “I made them with cinnamon and brown sugar. It’s a new recipe that I thought you might like since you like your Pop Tarts with cinnamon and brown sugar.”

“Thank you,” she took a seat at the bar and watched him as he continued to make more waffles for himself.  “What’s on the agenda for today?”

“Nothing unless you want to train.  We could watch a movie, you could read and I could watch you.”  She laughed at that. “Or me and you could go to the park and just talk.”

“Let’s go to the park, I like it there.”  Even though she had started to remember more and more they still kept the doors locked.  Bucky promised her that the safeguards would be removed soon, they just wanted her to remember a little bit more before the doors were unlocked and the bracelet could come off.

Bucky ate with her and then said they would go to the park a little later with a blanket and lunch.  Nat walked into the kitchen with a grin on her face, “Did you have any fun last night you two?”

Mina narrowed her eyes at the other woman, “Were you spying on us?”

“I would never,” but the sparkle in her eye told a different story.

“I told you they’d be watching,” Bucky responded.  “What was the bet?”

“That you would kiss Mina before the end of the night, twenty dollars was the minimum bet,” Natasha responded.

“Who won?”

“No one because killjoy Steve made us leave after Mina remembered the night in the club,” Natasha responded.  “Even had F.R.I.D.A.Y. lock all of us out.”

Steve strode in, “I knew you would try to go back.  I’ve lived with all of you long enough to know when you’re not going to follow orders.”

Natasha stuck her tongue out at Steve and grabbed her breakfast before heading out to go to the dining room where the others were.  Bucky looked at his friend, “Thank you.”

“Of course, figured you guys could use some privacy,” Steve poured himself a glass of orange juice.  “I don’t think any of them know the meaning of privacy.”

“They don’t,” Bucky said with a sigh.

“That’s why Bucky and I are getting a house with a big backyard and a pool.”  Bucky and Steve whipped their heads toward Mina, and she froze with a piece of waffle halfway to her mouth.  “Where the hell did that come from?” She sputtered.

“Doll did you just have a memory?”

Mina shook her head, “No, I-I don’t know where that came from.”

“We had talked about that one evening, right after I told you about--”

“The constellations,” she said excitedly.  “You were the one who told me about Cassiopeia!”

Bucky gave her a soft smile and nodded, “Yeah doll, I am.”  He pressed a kiss to her temple.

“She’s progressing quickly,” Steve said.

“Who knows when the last time they wiped her mind was,” Bucky said.  “Being around us and in a familiar setting is helping her.” He stood and took her empty plate sticking his and hers into the dishwasher.  “She’s mine for the day, Steve. We’re going to the park, make sure we’re not followed.”

“You got it Buck, have fun.”  Steve waved goodbye and exited the kitchen.

Mina went to change into more appropriate clothes for the park while Bucky got their lunches ready.  She stared at her closet for the longest time trying to decide between shorts or a skirt. In the end she picked out a light pink skirt with a floral design and a blouse that would match.

She slipped on a pair of Converse and braided her hair back.  She figured Bucky would take it down, but she wanted to see how long he lasted before it drove him insane and he tugged it down.

She joined him in the kitchen where he was putting the final items in the bag they would be taking with the food.  He looked up when he heard her enter and narrowed his eyes, “You’re doing this to torture me aren’t you?”

One side of her mouth tipped up in a smirk, “I have no idea what you’re talking about James.”

“Mm-hmm, sure you don’t.”  He finished shoving things into the bag and then swung it over his shoulder.  “Come on, the park awaits.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Power was obviously not cut off so you all were not kept waiting. Thankfully lol. But I still don't know when they'll be coming to fix the power pole.


	10. Chapter 10

Mina was sitting between Bucky’s legs, his arms wrapped around her as he leaned against a tree.  The two of them looking up at the sky watching the clouds drift by lazily. Mina was comfortable against his chest.

“That one looks like a bunny,” Bucky said as he pointed to the one he was looking at.

“You’re right it does, and the one above it looks like a dragon.”  They continued to point out the shapes in the clouds. Soon all the clouds were gone and they sat in companionable silence.  “Bucky?”

“Yeah doll?”

“We talked about having a house did we ever talk about… starting a family?”  She wasn’t entirely sure she should be asking that question or not, but she was curious.

“We did,” Bucky responded.  “We wanted a boy and a girl, one of each.  We were gonna name the girl--”

“Alya Marie Barnes,” she supplied, the name coming to mind just like the idea of owning a house had earlier that day.  

“That’s right, and what did I want to name the boy?”

“Jack Oliver Barnes, but I said no because his name would have spelled out JOB,” she chuckled at the thought of having a kid with the acronym JOB.  “Sounds like something Tony would do with his kid.”

“You even told me that I had been spending too much time with Tony,” he squeezed her a bit tighter.

She turned around so that she was facing him.  Her hand came up to cup his cheek, she felt his stubble under her hand.  He turned his head to place a kiss to her palm. Without thinking she leaned forward and kissed him.  

At first Bucky was stiff beneath her, shocked that she had even decided to kiss him like this.  But then he kissed her back with fervor. He tugged at the rubber band holding her hair up and tangled his fingers in it.  

He pushed her back so that he was hovering over her, her hands gripping the material of his shirt. “Bucky,” she whispered his name like a prayer.

He trailed kisses down her neck, nipping at her skin with his teeth.  He had missed her, missed the feeling of her soft skin under his lips.  He looked up at her, her chest rising and falling heavily. “Tell me to stop if you’re uncomfortable.”

She shook her head, and pulled his face down so she could kiss him again, a sweet lingering kiss, that wasn’t as lust filled as the one they had just shared.  He pulled and she ran her fingers through his hair, “I want to remember everything. I want to remember what we had before I was taken. I want to go back to where we were before.”

“Shuri can help you,” he whispered.  “I know you didn’t want to do it before because you thought we would try to plant memories in your head that weren’t your memories, but it’s still an option.”

“I want to, if it’ll help me get back my memories, if I can remember everything then I’ll do it.”  He pulled her up so they were sitting again. “But can we do something first?”

“Anything,” he whispered.

“Can we go to D.C.?  I want to go to the Smithsonian.  I want to experience that with you there by my side.  See if I can recall anything on my own.”

“Of course, we can leave next week, and I’ll let T’Challa know you’re coming.”  He smoothed some of her hair away from her face. “I wonder if anything will be triggered in Wakanda since that’s where everything started for us.”

“Maybe it will,” she placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth.  “And can I ask another favor?” He nodded. “Stay with me tonight.”

Happiness flooded through him, and he let out a relieved breath, “Thank God, I’ve missed your room.”

She started to laugh, resting her head against his shoulder.  “Is staying in your room really that bad?” She met his gaze again.

“Yes because I don’t have you there with me.”

“You’re so cheesy,” she giggled.  “I like it.”

They shared a few more chaste kisses sitting there together.  They only stopped when Mina’s stomach grumbled and Bucky declared she needed food.  She pouted, but the next rumble came and she had to admit she was pretty hungry.

 

They told the others of their plans to leave for Wakanda the next day.  T’Challa and Shuri were already on board with the idea. Shuri promised that they could have at least most of her memories back since Mina was already progressing very well.

Tony and Steve were also on board.  “We’re tired of keeping her cooped up in the compound all the time,” Tony said.  “It’ll be nice to have some normalcy around here again.”

“As long as Mina is comfortable with this then I’m comfortable with it,” Steve said.

“I am,” Mina told him.  “It was my idea. It’s time to stop skirting around these memories.  I want to get the rest of them back as quickly as possible, and if Shuri can do it then I’m going to her.”

“We leave next week,” Bucky informed them.  “We’re stopping off in D.C. before we head to Wakanda.”

“Why D.C.?”  Wanda asked, her brows drawn together in confusion.

“I want to go to the Smithsonian,” she informed her friend.  “I want to see the Captain America exhibit. That’s where I first learned about Bucky.  I want to see if that will trigger anymore of my memories from when I was younger. See if I can remember my parents at all.”  Bucky had informed her that Little Slice of Napoli was actually her parent’s restaurant, but he hadn’t wanted to tell her that at the time and risk making her feel uncomfortable.

“Do you want any of us to come with you?”  Pietro asked. “Backup in case The Enclave has a track on her and tries to take her while you’re vulnerable?”

Mina and Bucky shared a look with one another.  Backup wasn’t a bad idea actually. “Sure,” Bucky said once Mina had given him a little nod.  “The more the merrier I guess.”

“Is there anyone you want to go with you?”  Tony asked.

“Steve, Sam, Pietro, Wanda, and Nat,” Mina said.  “The should be enough.”

“Unless The Enclave decides to bring the whole army with them,” Sam mutter to which Bucky kicked him.  Sam just shrugged as if to say, ‘What? It’s the truth!’

Mina stared off into space for a moment.  “Shinsky doesn’t want me anymore. Not if the others can do what I can now.”

“They might not be able to do that yet,” Wanda said.  “They might still need time or they risk killing the Sirens that they have.”

Mina chewed on her lip, “I want to save the Sirens.  We can start with the ones that they have in the field right now.  They’ll be easier to get to. Then we save the others. They shouldn’t be forced to do The Enclave’s bidding, and they deserve to be back with their loved ones if they had any before The Enclave took them.”

“How do you know the others haven’t been pulled from the field?”  Tony asked. “What if Shinsky suspected that you’d do this once you started to remember who you are?  What if this is what he wants?”

“All very possible,” she said.  “But I’m not going to let him use these women anymore.  They have to be a priority after my memories or I’ll stay here with this stupid bracelet on, locked up in my room until you agree.”

The others shared a look with one another.  “You drive a hard bargain, Mina. But I accept your terms.  Mainly because I think Bucky would kill me if I didn’t,” Tony said.

“Damn straight,” Bucky replied.  “And she’s right. Those women are in the same position she’s in, and they deserve to have their lives back.”

“Then it’s settled.  Mina, Bucky, Sam, Nat, Pietro, Wanda, and I will all travel to D.C. then to Wakanda and get her memories back.  Once we’re back we’ll start formulating a plan to get those women back. While we’re in Wakanda we’ll see if T’Challa will help them, which I know he will but better to ask than assume.  And then we’ll start the mission.”

The team was ready to start undermining The Enclave as soon as possible, and the first step was getting Mina’s memories back.

Once the others had filed out of the room Mina looked at Bucky.  “The first person we’re going after is Amara. I’ll need her help and any connections she may have formed while on the run.”

“Do you know how to find her?  She’s been dark for a couple of months now, she may not be easy to find.”

“I can find her,” she said with certainty.  “Just give me some time.”

He nodded, “All right.  I’ll help in any way I can.”

“I know you will,” she hugged him tightly.

 

Mina, Bucky, Sam, Steve, Natasha, and Wanda boarded the Quinjet the next week and headed for D.C.  They wouldn’t be there long, just long enough for Mina to see the exhibit at the museum before they headed to Wakanda.  

Steve was to stay on the jet, Sam was flying high in the sky, Wanda and Nat were keeping watch of the floors of the museum keeping an eye out for anything suspicious while Bucky and Mina headed to the exhibit.  Pietro was stuck circling the block as quickly as he could, keeping a eye out for trouble from outside the building on ground level.

Mina was clutching Bucky’s hand tightly as they walked through the archway.  Nothing catching her eye and causing her to have a memory spring up. They stopped in front of a TV screen where Bucky and Steve were laughing with one another.

Mina smiled and looked up at Bucky, “You look happy.”

Bucky didn’t take his eyes off the screen.  “I was. I was alive and with Steve.”

“I don’t know which look I prefer more, present day Bucky or forties Bucky.”  That got him to look at her. She stepped a bit closer to him, “Sergeant Barnes was kinda sexy.”

He smirked at her, “Are you trying to tell me you like a man in a uniform?”

“I like  _ you  _ in a uniform,” she couldn’t fight back the smile.  “Clean shaven, forties style hair, the uniform,” she hummed.  “Deadly combination, Sergeant Barnes.”

“Focus people, there are kids around,” Natasha said into the earpiece.  “Save the dirty talk for when we’re in Wakanda and you have your own room.”

“Spoilsport,” Mina laughed.

The two of them moved on to the section where it showed the Howling Commandos uniforms.  She saw Steve’s and Bucky’s painted on the wall along with the other members of the team.  She went to ask Bucky for their names, but her question died on her lips.

_ Mina was pulling on her mom’s arm.  “Come on Mom, I want to see Captain America’s exhibit!”   _

_ Her mother was laughing, " _ Mina, rallenta.  Stai camminando troppo velocemente! _ ”  Several people looked their way, smiling at the excited child racing off to see the Captain America exhibit.  So many kids loved going there and learning about America’s first super soldier. _

_ Her parents raced to catch up as Mina darted under the archway.  She paused when she saw everything on display. So much information and artifacts placed strategically around the room.  As she walked deeper into the room she saw the wall dedicated to James Buchanan Barnes. _

_ She paused.  The name was slightly familiar, and as she read on she remembered why.  Bucky had been Steve’s best friend who had been captured by HYDRA. Steve had rescued him.  She stared at the picture they had of Bucky. She had to admit that he was very handsome. She wondered what he had been like back then. _

_ She wandered around the exhibit and came upon the video of Bucky and Steve.  They were laughing and Mina was struck by how handsome he was when he was smiling.  The way his eyes crinkled in the corners. Her breath caught in her throat. _

_ When she was done in the exhibit she went straight to the gift shop and bought a book on Steve and Bucky.  Even buying some memorabilia with the two of them on it. She wanted to be like the two of them. She wanted to protect the world from bad people like HYDRA and the Red Skull. _

_ That was the day she decided she was going to do something to help the world.  She was going to join the military. She was going to fight for what was right. _

Mina blinked, the present time coming back into focus around her.  “I need to see if I still have that book.”

Bucky gave her a quizzical look, “Doll?”

“I bought a book, and some other merchandise while I was here with my parents.  I need to see if I still own it.”

“I’m sure you do, doll.  Your parents probably have it among some of the stuff you left with them.”

The two of them headed for the exit.  “When we get back, I’ll go see them. It only seems right that I visit them once my memories are back.  You’ll come with me right?” She glanced up at him nervously. She wondered how much her parents knew. What she was going to have to tell them, explain to them.

“Of course I will,” he squeezed her hand.  “Just say the word and we’ll go.”

She relaxed, “Thank you, for everything.  For being so patient with me.”

“I know what you’re going through.  I’ve been there. So don’t worry, if anyone understands what it’s like to be where you are right now it’s me.”

They met up with Natasha and Wanda at the entrance and headed back to the jet together.  Steve and Sam already there waiting on them. “Next stop Wakanda,” Sam said. 

Mina prayed that everything worked out while they were there.  That by this time tomorrow she would fully remember her past and be prepared to take on The Enclave, and the other Sirens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Mina, rallenta. Stai camminando troppo velocemente!” = "Mina, slow down. You're walking too fast!"  
> It was storming so I had time to write this. Will Mina get her memories back?


	11. Chapter 11

Wakanda came into view and Mina gaped at the sight of the country.  She had seen pictures, but nothing could compare to actually seeing it in person.  The countryside was beautiful. Thick jungles and panoramic views of the mountains were breathtaking.  She wanted this image to stay embedded in her brain forever so that she would never forget it.

“Beautiful isn’t it?”  Bucky whispered in her ear.  He had one arm around her waist, his thumb stroking her side.

She nodded, never taking her eyes off the sight before her.  “So beautiful,” her voice was a whisper.

The city came into view and they landed at the palace.  The Dora Milaje were there waiting for them, Okoye in the front.  T’Challa and Shuri were also standing side by side, smiles gracing their features.  Bucky had been filling them in on Mina’s process and they were both happy to hear that she was slowly regaining her memory.

Shuri was especially happy to hear that Mina was willing to go through the procedure to try and get the rest of her memories back.  Shuri raced to hug Bucky as he and Mina departed the jet. “I’m so glad you’re here!” She said as she squeezed him tightly. “I have more improvements for your arm.”

Bucky laughed, “Every time.  The arm works perfectly Shuri.”

“Just let her do her thing,” T’Challa said as he stepped over to where they were standing.  “She says that things need to be updated for them to work properly. So don’t complain or else you’ll hear her lecture.”

Mina and Shuri chuckled.  Shuri asked Mina if it was okay to hug her, Mina accepted and then looked to T’Challa.  “I hear I am your ‘Little Panther’.”

One side of T’Challa’s lips tipped up into a smile, “You are.  So fierce, and very protective.” They all began walking inside.  “We have prepared dinner for everyone. We know you must be tired after your long journey.”

“Thank you, T’Challa,” Steve said.  “Do you mind if we freshen up before we eat?”

“Of course, your rooms have been prepared for you.”  He turned to Bucky and Mina. “I didn’t know if you would be sharing a room or not so I took the liberty of preparing two separate rooms.” 

“Thanks, but we’ll be in one,” Bucky told him.  Mina felt her cheeks flushed as Shuri wiggled her eyebrows at the two of them.  “We’ll see you at dinner in thirty?”

“Of course,” T’Challa pulled his sister away leaving the others to go find their rooms.

An hour later after they had all showered and changed clothes they met in the dining room where dinner had been laid out for them.  T’Challa and Shuri were there with their mother. She greeted Mina warmly and told her how glad she was that she was safe again.

Mina felt looked down shyly and told her thank you for her kind words.  She took her seat next to Bucky and dug into the food. No memories surfaced during that time, but she felt comfortable there.  A sense of belonging washing over her. She felt at ease here.

After dinner Bucky led her to the roof.  The garden from their first official date was just as beautiful as the day they had been here.  The sunset spectacular. Bucky stood behind Mina, his arms wrapped around her as they watched the sunset.  The sky brilliant shades of red, orange, pink, purple, and yellow.

“So beautiful, I can see why you love it here,” she murmured as she leaned her head back against his chest.  It’s almost like the problems of the outside world can’t touch us here.”

“It feels like that.”  He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.  “After everything that happened at the world summit.  When the UN was after me, coming here and just being able to find peace after so long was so nice.  T’Challa was so kind to me, and Shuri was like a sister to me. Neither of them ever judging me for what I had done.  That’s one thing that I liked about you. You saw me for me, and not for what HYDRA had made me do after I had been captured.”

She turned around, “I would never.  That wasn’t you. People had control of your mind, you couldn’t control what you were doing, they brainwashed you.”

“Hold onto that tomorrow doll, just remember that it was The Enclave that made you do the things you did when you were away from us.”

She reached up and kissed him, “Bucky, I’m scared.”

“Why?”  His voice was soft, curiosity lacing his tone.

“What if I can’t remember?  What if we do this and nothing comes back?  I’m afraid that I’ll disappoint you.” Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.  

Bucky pulled her close and squeezed her tightly, his heart breaking.  “No doll, don’t think like that. The only way you’d ever disappoint me is if you up and decided that you’d rather take over the world than keep it safe.”

She nodded against his chest, “But I’m still worried that I won’t remember anything.”

“Then we’ll continue to take this one day at a time.  I promise you that if you don’t remember anything tomorrow that it won’t be a big deal.  We’ll find other ways to help you remember. I’ll even buy you plums.”

That made Mina start laughing, “Plums?”

“Plums are supposed to be good for your memory,” he informed her.  “I used to eat them when I was trying to remember things.” She stroked her back.  She was calming down now, he could feel her relaxing against him. “Come on, time for bed.  You have a big day tomorrow, and it’ll help if you’re well rested.”

“Can we stay for a few more minutes?”  She sounded sleepy.

“You just want me to carry you back to bed,” he said with a chuckle.

“Maybe,” she said in a singsong voice.  He scooped her into his arms and she let out a surprised squeal.

“If you wanted me to carry you doll, all you had to do was ask,” he smirked at her that sent the butterflies in her stomach going crazy.

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Scoundrel.”

“You like it,” he pecked her on the cheek.

She hummed as she rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her down to their room.  He set her down gently on the floor so she could get dressed for bed while he prepared as well.  When they both slipped into bed Bucky pulled her up against him, her hands resting on his bare chest.

“Goodnight Bucky,” she whispered into the dark.

“Goodnight doll.”

 

The morning came quickly, Mina refused to eat anything.  She was too nervous and Shuri felt like it might be for the best depending on how she reacted to all her memories coming back.

They took one of the jets to Shuri’s lab and Mina’s heart was pounding as they descended down deeper and deeper into the lab.  They had cleared it out for the day to offer Mina some privacy. Shuri knew the other girl would feel awkward if there were a bunch of people around to watch.  T’Challa and Bucky were the only two people allowed in the lab with them.

Shuri had Mina lay down on one of the tables and started checking over her vitals.  She saw how fast her heart rate was and said, “Try to relax. It will make this easier.”

Mina nodded and took a few steadying breaths.  She wanted to relax, but it was hard. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be, I understand how stressful this will be.  But it won’t hurt and if you can’t remember, we can always try again in a few days.  But have faith, this will work. It worked for Bucky,” she offered Mina a smile which Mina returned.  Her heart rate started to slow. “I’m going to sedate you, you’ll go under and while you’re there explore.  Some people see doors, others have boxes or filing cabinets filled with their memories. Just go to each one and open it up.  And know that whatever you see can’t hurt you.”

“Okay,” Mina said preparing herself for the drowsiness that was going to come over her.

_ You can do this, you can do this, you can do this,  _ she kept repeating the mantra over and over in her head as she laid there on the table.  She felt the needle go into her arm and she felt herself grow drowsy. Within seconds she was under.

Bucky stood back and watched her as she laid there unconscious wondering what she was seeing.  He remembered that being him. He had laid there and let Shuri put him under. His mind racing at the thought of what he was going to find.

He had seen doors, sometimes he could hear things coming from the doors.  He would hesitate as he heard screams coming from the other side, but pushed the open knowing that he had to know what was there.

T’Challa put his hand on Bucky’s shoulder, “She’ll be fine.  Mina is strong, stronger than most. She has proven that time and time again.  She will come through this.”

Bucky nodded as he took in a deep breath.  “I know, I’m just scared for the both of us.  She was scared of disappointing me last night, and I just don’t want her to feel that way.  I don’t ever want her to feel like a disappointment.”

Shuri stood beside the two of them, watching her sleeping friend.  “You need to be her rock. When she comes out of this she is going to need someone and you are going to be that someone.  Just let her know that whatever happened while she was under that you have her and you’re not going to let her go.”

Hours passed and Mina was still under.  Shuri would check her vitals and say that everything was looking all right.  She wasn’t in any danger. She wasn’t sure when Mina would wake, that would depend on her, on how quickly she made it through each memory.  How many doors her mind would allow her to open.

At one point Steve called to see how things were going.  “Is she still under?”

“Yeah, she’s been under for about two hours now, and God is the waiting killing me.”  Bucky was pacing above the lab, he could still see Mina from his position, would know the minute she stirred.

“Hang in there Buck, she’ll come out of it soon.”  He heard Nat and Wanda asking Steve all kinds of questions and him waving them off.  “The others are getting restless, we all want to know how she’s doing.”

“Just tell them that her vitals are fine and I will let them know the minute she’s awake and if she can remember anything.”

“All right, and Buck?”

“Yeah, Steve?”

“We’re here for you.  We’re here for the both of you if you need us.”

“Thanks, Steve.”

“Anytime.”  The two said their goodbyes and hung up.

It was another two hours later.  T’Challa was still there waving off anything that popped up.  He had to be there for Bucky and if it wasn’t life or death he could wait.  Bucky was ready to tear his hair out when he heard her shift.

He turned toward the table and saw her moving.  Her eyes squeezed together before popping open. She sat up quickly, her breathing heavy.  “Doll?” He rushed over to the table, Shuri and T’Challa hanging back to give them space.

Her head snapped toward the sound of Bucky’s voice and she let out a little cry.  “Bucky!” She got off the table and collapsed into his arms, “You found me. You did it you found me.”

Tears spilled down Bucky’s cheeks, she remembered.  She remembered the day The Enclave took her. “Of course I did.  I never stopped looking for you.”

She didn’t think she’d ever let him go again.  She was just so relieved. Then she looked up and saw T’Challa and Shuri standing there with smiles on their faces.  “T’Challa! Shuri!” Bucky released her so that she could rush over to them and throw her arms around both of them. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“Well we couldn’t leave you like that.  I don’t like Siren Mina,” Shuri said with a laugh.

“It is good to have you back my Little Panther.”  Mina choked out a laugh at the sound of the familiar nickname.

“I’m going to call the others,” Bucky announced.

“No, wait!”  Mina turned to Buck.  “Let’s have a little fun,” she said with a mischievous grin.

He grinned back, “What do you have in mind doll?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter at the beginning at least will show what Mina saw when she went through her memories. I just didn't want to make this chapter super long and I was already close to reaching 2000 words when I got to the part where they put her under. So that'll be the next chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

Mina stepped down the long hallway.  It was white and very bright. There were no doors like Shuri had said there would be.  Maybe her friend had been wrong. Maybe there wouldn’t be anything here.

Propelled by some unseen force Mina stepped forward, her footsteps echoing down the empty hallway.  She felt like she had been walking forever when she saw it. A little burst of color against the stark white walls.

It was a red door.

Why red?  She wondered as she approached it cautiously.  It was smooth, looking like the front door of someone’s home.  She reached for the gold doorknob and twisted praying that the door would open for her.

It swung open with ease, not making a sound.  The room was dark and for a moment she was a little scared to step inside.  She took a deep breath telling herself that this was the only way she could get her memories back as quickly as possible, so suck it up.

She put one foot in front of the other and let the memory overtake her.

_It was hot.  That was the first thing she thought.  It was so, so hot. Why had her parents decided to move into their new home and restaurant on the same day she would never understand._

_“Ma!  Where do you want these boxes?”  She was lugging two of the heavier boxes inside.  She was currently standing in their bare living room.  The couch and chairs hadn’t even made it inside yet._

_Her mother entered from another room and looked at the labels.  “Those go upstairs to the room on the right. It’s next to the bathroom.”_

_Mina nodded and lugged the boxes up the flight of stairs.  Her mother staring after in amazement. Those two boxes were carrying the photo albums and an assortment of leather bound books that she and Marcus had brought over from Italy.  Her daughter had always been stronger than the average person._

_Now with these powers it made sense._

_It had been two months since Mina had saved herself from being buried alive under the building where their pizza shop had been.  It had been a blessing from the gods, but now they wondered what it would mean for their daughter._

_Mina had insisted that she wanted to keep it a secret, finish school and lay low.  She wasn’t sure what she wanted yet, what these powers would mean for her. She was scared of them, but at the same time she wanted to know how they worked._

_She was curious by nature._

_At night she would sit in her room and work on trying to summon those turquoise flames that matched her eyes.  Sometimes she was successful, other times she would go to bed frustrated. She wondered if the Avengers would come after her, wanting her to help them with her talents._

Mina backed out of the room.  The door was still there, still as red as it was.  She moved down the hall until she came to another red door, this one on the opposite wall from the other.  She reached out and went to open it when she heard the sound of glass breaking.

Did she really want to see what this one was?

Yes.

 _Mina crouched down and surveyed the building looking for the entrance and exit points, “There.”  She pointed to the roof where there was a hatch she could probably work it open with her powers. “But we’re not all going in. We can’t let them know we’re here. If we do then it could make them desperate.”  She looked up at him, she knew he wasn’t going to like her answer. “I’m going in alone.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“No,” he said.  “We go in as a team.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“You all can’t turn invisible and I’m pretty sure we don’t want these people to know we’re onto them.  Plus they might think you’re dead, we need to keep it that way.” She took his hand and looked at him, “I can do this Bucky.  You have to trust me.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Steve gripped her shoulder, “We’ll be right here, let us know if you need anything.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _She nodded her head and looked back at the building.  “Just like Mission Impossible, ” she mumbled under her breath.  Then she turned to Peter. “I need your webbing.” Knowing exactly what she meant he shot his webbing over to the other side of the street and held on.  Before she went across she stood on her toes and kissed Bucky’s cheek, “I’ll be right back.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Natasha handed her a flash drive and told her to use her phone to take photos of anything that wouldn’t go on the flash drive.  Mina slowly shimmied her way across the webbing Peter had done for her, her body turning invisible._ _  
_ _  
_ _When she reached the other side she let out a little, relieved breath, but knew that the hard part wasn’t over yet.  She had to use her magic to pry the hatch open, and unfortunately you could still see it even when she was invisible, so she would have to rely on her own skills when she was inside._ _  
_ _  
_ _The hallway she landed in was dark, and she couldn’t hear anyone on this level.  She moved slowly hoping her eyes would adjust to the dimness, some light was entering the building from the street beyond, but not enough to light the hallway well.  She found the stairs and took them down a flight until she reached the floor below._ _  
_ _  
_ _This floor was brightly lit and had guards making rounds.  They were all silent and stoic as they moved with robot-like precision.  It unnerved her how well-trained people like them were. She slipped past the first guard careful not to make a sound or do anything to alert him of her presence._ _  
_ _  
_ _He paused, but shook his head and kept moving.  Mina let out a little breath when he disappeared around the corner._ _  
_ _  
_ _None of the doors were labeled so it was a guessing game for Mina as she opened them and peeked inside.  Most of the rooms were empty, but she did find an office and began looking through it. Unfortunately, she came up empty._ _  
_ _  
_ _She moved down another flight of stairs and discovered a lab of some sort with a bank of computers against a far wall.  There was a red light causing the room to glow eerily. Mina looked around, but it appeared to be empty. She took her phone out and began taking photos before walking over to the computers and booting one up._ _  
_ _  
_ _Inserting the flash drive she began downloading the content on the computer hoping to find something good there.  Almost as soon as she was done alarms started to go off, and she realized that she had triggered a safeguard in the computer against people trying to download the files._ _  
_ _  
_ _She yanked the flash drive out and hurried into the hall.  “This way!” She heard someone shout._ _  
_ _  
_ _Both sides of the hallway were suddenly crowded with the guards.  She was trapped, there was no way she could make it through without alerting them of her presence, and to top it all off they were slowly moving toward the door she had just come out from._ _  
_ _  
_ _She whirled around to the windows and knew that this would definitely tell them where she was, and they would most certainly start shooting at her.  It was either be shot at or be captured. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath._ _  
_ _  
_ _Her powers flared up and she broke the window directly behind her.  She heard the stunned curses coming from the men and she was out the window.  She was unfortunately several stories up so she had to use her abilities to help her land.  She landed wrong on one of her ankles and yelped in pain._ _  
_   
_The men were still above her shouting, some were shooting, but the bullets hit her suit and bounced right off.  She had to thank Shuri later for the upgrade._

The bright hallway was before her again, her breathing heavier than it had been when she had entered the room.  The memory had felt so real, she could feel the bullets flying past her, but she knew that they couldn't hurt her.  She vaguely remembered the others telling her about that night.  That was when they had first learned of The Enclave’s existence. Bucky hadn’t wanted her to go in alone, but she was the only one that could turn invisible.

She moved down the hall, coming to another door, but this one was grey.  She tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. This must have been one of the memories she wasn’t ready to see yet.  She tried one more time for good measure, but still nothing.

The next door was red and it opened for her.  She stepped inside.

_Steve was standing in front of her.  She was in her parent’s restaurant working when he had just walked in.  She had frozen knowing what his presence meant._

_They knew about her powers.  She shakily walked over to him, both excited and nervous.  “H-hello,” her voice shook. “Welcome to Little Slice of Napoli.”_

_He gave her an easy going smile, “Hello, do you know a Mina Gaspari?”_

_Mina gulped, “That’s me.”  She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace._

_Steve looked relieved, “Can we possibly talk?”_

_She nodded and led him over to one of the booths where they could have some privacy.  Her parents were peering at them from behind the counter. They knew who Steve was. They knew why he was here, why he had wanted to talk with Mina._

_“I know why you’re here,” she said before he could say a word.  “You know about me don’t you?” He nodded. “And you’re here to offer me a spot on the Avengers?”  Another nod. “Why?”_

_“Because with your abilities you could do a lot of good.  You could help people. I can tell your nervous, and I promise if you say no we’re not going to kidnap you and take you against your will.  We simply are here to offer you a spot on the team, offer to work with you and train you.”_

_She rubbed her hands together, her palms were clammy.  “I don’t know, I don’t think I’m cut out for this sort of thing.”  She thought back to the time she had gone to the Smithsonian with her parents.  How she had wanted to be like Steve and Bucky._

_God, Captain America was sitting in front of her right now offering her a place on the Avengers and she was scared.  What was wrong with her?_

_“I will tell you that even if you don’t want to be a part of the team you should come and at least train that way you know how to handle your powers.  You don’t want to hurt someone you love.” He looked over to the counter where her parents were trying to act like they weren’t staring. Steve chuckled.  “Just think about it.” He pushed a card toward her. “My cell is on there, just call when you have an answer for me.” He stood and walked over to the counter and picked up several boxes of pizza.  He flashed her a smile before leaving._

_Her parents had hurried over to her and asked her what he had wanted.  Mina still sitting there still feeling a little shocked that Captain America had offered her a position on the Avengers._

Mina continued down the hall opening various doors and discovering more that were locked.  Nothing particularly scary had happened to her over her life. She remembered more of her time with Bucky, her childhood, her parents, her first day with the Avengers.

She was beginning to feel more like herself.  The Siren persona that The Enclave had made her to be slipping away as she was grounded once again.  Her stress leaving her, her fear also leaving her.

She reached one last door and she stopped as she heard an explosion.  She didn’t like this. She knew this would be the memory of when she was taken.  With a shaky breath she opened the door and let the memory overtake her.

 _She stood when she heard the lock click out of place.  But she wasn’t greeted by Bucky or any of her friends._ _  
_ _  
_ _A tall, blonde woman with dark brown eyes smiled at her.  “Hello, sister.” She stepped farther into the room making Mina back up against the wall.  Mina knew instantly that this woman was one of the other sirens. Shinsky would have sent her to make sure no one else got in her way, to control the others while they captured her.  “Don’t be afraid of me, I’m not going to hurt you. We’re sisters, I’m just here to save you.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“I’m an only child and I don’t believe you when you say you aren’t going to hurt me,” she shot back, her eyes narrowing, a bit of bravado showing through._ _  
_ _  
_ _The woman paused, “I would never hurt one of us, another siren.  We may not share the same blood, but we are bonded by so much more.  Our master told you that we would be coming for you. After the month was up.  And here we are. We’ve come to rescue you.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“Kidnap,” Mina amended.  “You’ve come to kidnap me.  I never needed to be rescued, I’m right where I want to be.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _The woman’s smile slipped a bit, but she quickly recovered.  “I should introduce myself, maybe that will ease your mind some.  I’m Caterina.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“No last name?”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“You won’t need one where we’re going.  When you go out on missions they’ll assign a name to you.”  She held out one of her perfectly manicured hands. “Come on, we’re not supposed to dally.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Mina eyed the offered hand skeptically, “What happens if I refuse to come with you?”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“Then your friends will be instructed to turn on one another, and they will kill themselves.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Mina knew there was no way out of this.  She was going to have to go with the fellow siren or be forced to go and watch all her friends die.  “Fine, I’ll come with you.” She squared her shoulders and stood a bit taller. “But only if my friends remained unharmed.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“That is the deal,” Caterina turned and headed out of the little room.  “Come along.” Mina followed Caterina and when she started toward the end she saw more and more of Peter’s webbing.  Then she saw Peter standing frozen in the middle of the hall. “He put up a good fight,” Caterina informed her. “But my abilities were just a bit stronger than his.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _He reminded Mina of one of Medusa’s statues.  She forced herself to look away, she couldn’t take seeing her friend looking like that._ _  
_ _  
_ _Outside wasn’t much better.  Little fires were scattered over the ground, and the tree line was also on fire from the explosion she had heard.  All her friends were standing frozen like Peter. She scanned the group checking to see if anyone was seriously injured._ _  
_ _  
_ _Natasha had a gash in her side that was bleeding pretty badly.  Several of them had cuts along their faces. Wanda had a bruise already forming on her cheek.  She couldn’t tell if anyone had any broken bones._ _  
_ _  
_ _She continued to scan the group until her eyes landed on Bucky, he was frozen next to Steve.  “Can I say goodbye?” She asked never taking her eyes off of him._ _  
_ _  
_ _Caterina turned around, “Of course, but make it quick.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Mina rushed over to Bucky.   “Bucky,” she sobbed. Bucky’s eyes followed her, the only part of him that could move.  Tears streamed down Mina’s face. Mina reached up and kissed Bucky’s cheek, “I have to go with her.  It’s the only way I can keep all of you safe.” She hugged Bucky tightly, “I love you Bucky.” She moved her lips to his ear, acting as if she was just going to hug him for a few seconds longer.  “Find me,” she whispered. She pulled away and walked back over to Caterina, The Enclave goons had joined her now all of them waiting for Mina to finish her goodbyes. “How long will they be frozen?”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“Until they can no longer track us,” Caterina replied.  The group headed into the forest to a little clearing where a jet was waiting for them.  “Take off,” she ordered the pilot as soon as they were on board._ _  
_   
_Within minutes they were in the air and heading toward The Enclave’s main base of operations._  
  
Her eyes popped open, a gasp escaping her.  She sat up and was greeted with the familiar sight of Shuri’s lab.  Right where she had been just a few hours ago before she could remember who she was.

Her eyes darted around the room, until they landed on Bucky and it felt like the air had been knocked out of her.  He was here, he was alive, this wasn’t a dream. A strangled cry left her as she stood and fell into his waiting arms.

She was back, and she was with him.  She was no longer a prisoner of The Enclave.  She was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably going to add more of her memories to the After Effects Series Extras. This chapter was longer than I expected it to be lol.


	13. Chapter 13

Bucky had called ahead of time and told the others to meet them back at the palace in the dining room.  Steve had pestered him with questions about what had happened, but Bucky told him he would have to wait until they were back.  He tried to keep his tone as neutral as possible, not wanting to betray any information.

Mina was currently sitting curled up in his lap, her fingers running through his hair.  This felt right. She felt like she could finally relax, and she felt like herself. “So tell me everything I missed while I was away.”  She wondered how much had changed in the seven months that she had been with The Enclave.

Bucky thought for a moment, “Nat and Steve got together about three months ago.”

“‘Bout damn time,” she murmured.  She had been trying to convince Natasha that she and Steve would be cute together for the longest time, but the spy had quickly avoided the subject at all costs.

Bucky chuckled, “I know, it took all of us to finally get them together.  The team and I may have played matchmaker.”

“I don’t care how it happened as long as it did.”  She placed a kiss to his neck, feeling his pulse leap under her lips.  She smiled, “So tell me, when can I take this damn bracelet off?” She lifted up her wrist and jiggled it in front of his face.  “Cuz I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to go running back to Shinsky now.”

Bucky fiddled with the clasp.  “As soon as the others know that you’ve gotten most of your memories back.  Shuri can probably help you get it off tomorrow at the lab.”

“Hmmm, and are we still on for that vacation?”

“Most definitely,” he whispered against her ear.  He was relieved to have her back, to remember him and their plans.  

She shivered, her mind racing.  So many things she wanted to do with him to catch up for all the time they had lost together.  Nearly a year. It didn’t seem like that long, but it had been. She hugged him, “I love you.”

His heart broke at her whispered words.  How broken she sounded. “I love you too Mina.”  His arms held her tighter and they didn’t release one another until T’Challa landed the jet.

“Game time,” Mina said with a smile before schooling her features into one of frustration.  They were going to see if they could trick the others into believing the procedure didn’t work.

They walked through the palace to the dining room where the others were waiting for them.  Steve looked toward the doors as they opened, took in their grim features and knew that things hadn’t gone the way they had hoped they would.  He felt his shoulders slump, “It didn’t work.”

Mina shook her head, taking in the disappointed looks on her friends’ faces.  “I’m sorry. Nothing happened, I tried.”

Steve swore, “I thought it would work since it worked with Bucky.”  He ran a hand through his hair. The others were letting their frustrations out in other ways.

Shuri spoke up, “We’re going to try again tomorrow just to be sure.  She was very stressed today and that could have been blocking her from finding her memories.”  That wasn’t a lie. Mina had told them she wanted to go back under because there were still things that she was missing.  She had explained the red and grey doors, and how the grey doors had all been locked.

“Then there’s still hope,” Wanda said with conviction.  “Tomorrow will be better, we just have to have faith that Mina will recover her memories.”  She smiled at Mina, “We have faith in you, we’re here for you every step of the way.”

“Thank you, you guys.  That means a lot to me.”

“Of course,” Pietro said.  “What are friends for Little Mina.”

And that was her cue, she had been waiting for one of them to say something or do something that the pre-brainwashed Mina would know.  Mina tilted her head to the side and grin taking over, “I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t call me that for a month. I mean technically that bet is still on because I wasn’t here for that month.”

Everyone in the room froze and Bucky and Mina shared a grin.  “Wait,” Sam held up a hand. “She remembered the bet?”

“Yep and I also remember how bad your singing is Wilson.  Jesus you cannot carry a tune to save your life,” she laughed at his shocked expression.

Pietro rushed over and scooped Mina into his arms, “Ah our Little Mina is back.”  

She squeezed him back and when he set her down she turned to the rest of them who were all smiling and looking equally relieved.  “Not all my memories are back, but enough. I remember being taken and training and when Steve recruited me. I’m going back under tomorrow to see if I can recall the rest of my memories or if it’s going to be a waiting game with them.”  

Bucky watched as she hugged everyone and then watched as Natasha started a video call with their friends back in New York.  Everyone was so relieved to hear that Mina was back to her old self again. Tony said that once they got back to New York he would throw a party in her honor.

“Oh Tony no,” Mina said.  “I don’t do parties.”

“Yep she’s back,” Natasha said with an exaggerated sigh that made Mina smack her upside the head.

“I insist,” Tony said with a shake of his head.  “We haven’t had a decent party since before finding out about The Enclave.  This calls for a celebration.”

That had been a year ago.  Mina looked at Bucky and said, “We met a year ago.”

She could see him doing the math in his head, and found that she was right.  “We did, didn’t we doll? How shall we celebrate?”

“Well it’s not our anniversary yet,” she laughed.  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Get a room,” Sam called out.

Bucky flipped him off which elicited chuckles from everyone in the room.  Mina looked back at her friends, “As much as I am happy to be back and want to spend time catching up.”  She looked at Steve and Natasha, “Especially with you two.” Steve’s cheeks turned a little pink while Natasha just grinned.  “I am tired and would like to get some sleep.”

“Go,” Steve told her.  “We can all catch up in the morning over breakfast.

Bucky and Mina said their goodnights and headed to their room hand in hand.  She leaned her head against his arm. She still couldn’t believe it had been a year since she and Bucky had arrived here and first discovered out about The Enclave.

And here they were once again, still dealing with them, but together.  They would beat The Enclave, she had faith that they would.

 

In the morning Mina got up and ate breakfast before following Shuri to the lab.  She let Bucky sleep. He had looked so peaceful and she knew what kind of stress he had been under.  She hadn’t wanted to interrupt his much needed sleep. 

Shuri put her under, but Mina still couldn’t open the doors that had been locked the previous day.  When Mina woke up Shuri assured her that things would still come back to her as time progressed. 

Before they left the lab Shuri removed the bracelet for her.  Mina flexed her fingers, seeing ht turquoise flames dance over her fingertips.  She let out a little breath, it would good to be able to use her abilities again.

Back at the palace she discovered Bucky was still asleep. She crawled into bed and kissed his cheek, “Bucky.”  He didn’t move. She huffed, “Bucky.” Still nothing. “James Buchanan Barnes wake up!”

He moaned, “I must be in trouble if you’re using my full name.”  He blinked his eyes open and gave her a lazy smile. “What time is it?”

“A little after one in the afternoon.  Shuri and I just got back from the lab.  The others are preparing to leave. I was tasked with waking you up.”  She pecked his lips and went to get up, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her on top of him.  “Ah, Bucky!” 

“Nope, I’m not letting you leave.  We’re just gonna stay here.” 

She squirmed out of his grasp.  “Come on, I want to go home and see the others.  Peter’s waiting for me and I want to see my parents.”

That seemed to snap him out of his sleepy daze, “Of course doll.”  He stood up and gathered his things, getting dressed as he did so. Before leaving the room he stopped in front of her, “I’m sorry for taking so long to find you.”

“Oh Buck, it doesn’t matter how long it took, I knew it wasn’t going to be a quick fix.  All that matters is you did.” She took his hands in hers, “I think I always remembered you on some deeper level.”  He gave her a questioning look. “I could smell your cologne haunting me at The Enclave’s headquarters. Then the name Bucky.  For the life of me, I could never figure out where Bucky had come from until I met you again.”

“Some things just can’t be erased apparently,” he smiled at her, happy to know that even in her brainwashed state that she still remembered him even if she didn’t know how or why.

There was a banging on their door.  “Come on lovebirds, there will be time for hankie pankie when we get back to the compound!”  Came Sam’s voice.

Mina flung the door open and hit him with one of her lighter bags.  “Way to ruin the moment Sam!”

He grinned as he raced down the hall, “Good to have you back Mina!”

She rolled her eyes, but the grin on her face told Bucky that she wasn’t the least bit upset.  Bucky grabbed the rest of her bags and said, “Come on, let’s go before any more of them decide they need to come check on us.”

The others were waiting in the Quinjet for them.  T’Challa and Shuri wouldn’t be going with them this time.  Both of them were needed in Wakanda. Mina promised to call the both of them to check in and to let them know if she needed anything.

“Let’s go home,” she said to the others as the jet was lifted into the air and took off toward New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might not be able to update tomorrow. I have a lot going on tomorrow and will most likely haven't worked on Remembrance.


	14. Chapter 14

The Quinjet landed at the compound several hours later.  The whole place was dark, no lights could be seen from the outside.  Mina groaned, “Do you think Tony is trying to throw a surprise party for me?”

“Probably,” Natasha stepped up beside her.  “Just roll with it.”

The group headed inside and discovered a trail of confetti leading down the hallway toward the common room.  When they opened the door the lights flickered on and everyone jumped up and yelled, “Surprise!”

Mina let out a gasp when she saw her parents sitting on the couch directly in front of her.  “Ma! Dad!” She rushed forward and threw her arms around the both of them.

Her parents began speaking in rapid-fire Italian.  Bucky tried to keep up, but he could only pick up a few words here and there.  Alia was kissing her daughter’s cheeks repeatedly while Marcus stroked her hair.

“I hate to break up such a heartwarming moment,” Tony cut in.  “But let’s let the other change clothes and we can continue to catch up when they get back.”

Mina was reluctantly released by her parents and she and Bucky followed to others to their separate rooms.  Bucky got off the elevator before Mina, “All my clothes are in my original room doll. I’ll come up once I’ve changed.”  He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. The elevator doors closed once he had cleared them and Mina was alone.

Once she was locked safely in her room she sighed.  It felt good to be back.

She walked over to her bed and discovered a box with a little note on top of it from Tony.

_Mina,_

_It’s good to have you back kid. Pepper picked out the dress for you._

_I know you don’t like parties, but this is my way of saying thank you.  You saved all of us that day The Enclave came._

_So enjoy tonight.  And once the party is over there’s a special surprise on the roof for you and Bucky.  Cameras will be turned off and I promise none of us will spy on you._

_TS_

Mina blinked back her tears and opened the box pulling out the black dress with semi-off the shoulder sleeves, and peach colored flowers crawling up from the hem to the waistline.  It looked vintage, and it was gorgeous.

A pair of closed toed heels were also in the box with a golden bracelet with a B attached to it.  She chuckled at Tony’s subtly.

She walked into her bathroom and washed her face, putting on a little makeup and taming her hair into an updo.  She put her dress on next followed by the heels. She was spritzing herself with a little perfume when Bucky knocked on the door.

“Come on in Buck,” she called out.

He opened the door and froze as he took in the sight of her.  The dress was simple and elegant, and she looked beautiful. He walked over, placing his hands on her waist, “You look gorgeous doll.”

She fiddled with his shirt, part of it was unbuttoned exposing some of his chest, “You don’t look too bad yourself soldier.”

He grinned at her, “You ready to go?”

“Yep,” she took his hand in hers and the two of them headed back down to the party where the others were waiting for them.  She stuck close to her parents assuring them that she was back to normal and was no longer under The Enclave’s control.

Bucky watched as she walked around the room talking with everyone exchanging words and hugs, her smile seemed a little off, a little forced.  Bucky knew the others noticed it too, but no one commented on it.

Her parents left after a couple hours, Steve offering to drive them home which they gladly accepted.  After that the others started to disperse and as Tony headed out of the room he winked at Mina.

“What was that for?”  Bucky asked as he came to stand beside her.

“You’ll see,” she told him as she took his hand and dragged him toward the room.  On the roof Mina discovered jars filled with fairy lights had been scattered around.  There were two telescopes on one end with stools so that Bucky and Mina could sit next to one another.  The sounds of Etta James pouring from the speakers.

“Did Tony do all this?”  Bucky asked in awe.

“I believe he did, and he promised that the two of us would have privacy.  No one will be watching from the cameras, they’ve been turned off.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirm that we’re alone,” Bucky said.

“The two of you will have the night to yourselves,” the AI responded.  “Mr. Stark ask that the two of you have privacy at all costs.”

“Tell him thank you for us,” Mina responded.

“Gladly Mina, and welcome home.”

The two of them headed over to the telescopes and looked through the lenses.  The stars looked even more brilliant through the telescopes, she could even see some planets, though she wasn’t sure which ones were which.

If either of them saw something interesting they would pull the other one over to their telescope to show the other what they had found.  One they had tired they retired to a blanket with pillows piled on top and star gazed the old fashioned way.

“This our thing isn’t it?”  She rolled her head so she was looking at Bucky’s profile.

He turned to look at her, “What?”

“Well every couple has a thing they do together, ours is stargazing isn’t it?”

“I guess it is, we do this a lot,” he said with a chuckle.

“Perseus Orion Barnes,” she said.  “That should be our son’s name.”

A sweet smile graced Bucky’s face.  “I like it. Alya and Perseus Barnes, they’re going to be such troublemakers.”

“Alya will take after you,” she informed him.  

“And Perseus, Percy for short, will take after you.”  He kissed the tip of her nose. “We talk about kids a lot.”  The two of them laughed.

“I’ve always wanted a family,” she told him.  “I wanted to be a mother like my mom and my grandma.  I wanted to teach them Italian and watch them get on one of those yellow school buses.”  She traced his lips with her thumb, “And I wanted to do it with someone I loved deeply.”

“Before the war and everything that happened following it I never really thought about it.  It wasn’t a priority for me. But then when I started to remember things and I wanted a sense of normalcy.  Seeing kids and families together, it just never seemed to be a possibility for me. Not until you came along.”

“I’m with you until the end of the line Bucky,” she told him.

“Did Steve tell you about that?!”  He propped himself up on an elbow looking down at her as she began to giggle uncontrollably.  “Doll,” he whined. “We were having a moment.”

She pulled him down and kissed him, smiling against his lips as his protests were silenced.  “Steve told me, and I love that the two of you are so close. Honestly I think if we told Steve about our plans he would get a little misty-eyed and tell everyone he was going to be an uncle, and then we would have to calm that fire by telling everyone we are not pregnant.”  His hand dipped below her shirt, skimming the skin of her waist. “Maybe that should be an April Fool’s joke we do. Scare the others a little.”

“Sam, Pietro, and Tony would never let us hear the end of it,” Bucky told her, his hand still teasing her soft skin.  

“True,” she said.  “But I think we can take them.”

“You’re right, we could,” he kissed her again.  She fiddled with the buttons of his shirt and hers went just a bit higher.  “We should head back to our room,” she said a bit huskily.

“In a bit,” he murmured as he kissed her stomach, her eyes fluttering shut savoring the feeling of his mouth against her skin once again.

 

In the morning Natasha was grinning like the Cheshire cat as Mina walked into the kitchen and headed straight for the pantry.  “Did someone have fun last night?”

Mina turned and arched an eyebrow, she pointed to the dark bruise on Natasha’s neck, “Did you?”

That made both women grin broadly and giggle.  Steve and Bucky just exchanged embarrassed looks, clearing their throats trying to change the subject as quickly as humanly possible.  Natasha and Mina looked at one another and went, “Later.”

Tony entered the room, “Good morning ladies, Cap, Bucky.”  He poured himself a cup of coffee and popped some bread into the toaster.  “What is on the agenda for today with you all?”

“I wanted to talk with you,” Mina told him.  “About the other sirens.”

The room became tense.  Tony nodded, “All right.  Join me in my office after you eat and we can begin to discuss that.”  His toast popped up and he headed out of the room.

Mina ate her Pop Tarts, Bucky joining her with the blueberry flavored ones.  The conversation lapsed into normal everyday things like what they were currently watching on TV or what Mina was currently reading.  Natasha even had the idea of a double date which excited Mina. She had never been on one before.

After they had cleaned up the remains of their breakfast they went their separate ways.  Bucky asked if Mina wanted him in on the meeting and she told him he didn’t have to. She would tell him everything once she was done.  He told her he’d be in the gym training with Steve until she was done.

She headed down the long halls toward Tony’s office.  It had been a while since she had been in here, but it was the same as she remembered it.  Big windows, a simple desk with a picture of Pepper, and one lone filing cabinet with papers in it that Tony used as a backup in case of an emergency.

She took a seat across from him and their meeting began.  “There’s a Siren I want to start with,” she told him. “Her name is Amara and I helped her defect.  She’s currently in hiding, but I’m sure I can find her if you just give me some time. She might be willing to help since she has a history with The Enclave.”

Tony stroked his chin, “And what makes you think she’d want to get back into this fight if she already escaped from them once?”

“Because if she’s gotten any of her memories back like me then she may want to help the other women that they have.  She would want to help them get their lives back. She’s my ace Tony, as far as I’m aware no one knows where she is. She can help me with things that you all can’t.  She knows how The Enclave works just like I do. She could be a good asset to us.”

“All right, you can go after Amara first.  I’ll even help you locate her if you can give me a little more to go on.”

“She fell in love with a man by the name of Varun Rai, he worked in the Indian government.  He was the Chief Economic Advisor in the Indian government. He was her in to other officials, but along the way she fell in love.  She was always stronger willed than the others. More human and less brainwashed zombie… like I was.”

Tony wanted to say something to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure what he could say to her.  He had never been in a situation like her. “All right. I’ll start facial recognition around the world.  I should have an answer for you by tomorrow. Any areas you think they’d avoid?”

“India for one, probably America too.”

“Good, that’ll help me some.  I’ll have F.R.I.D.A.Y. start this right away and I’ll find you when I get something and we can go from there.”

“Thank you, Tony.”

“It’s no problem,” he said with a wave of his hand.  “Go tell the others what’s going on and tell them once I have more information we’ll come up with a game plan on how we want to do this.”

She stood up and went in search of the team to tell them their next move against The Enclave.  If they succeeded in getting a handful of the Sirens then they would be able to take down The Enclave easier.  Their men on the ground wouldn’t be a match for a bunch of Enhanced individuals and the rogue Sirens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was able to work on a little bit of it today while I was at my appointment and then I didn't have anything else to do once I got home. I don't know how much will be left of this one before we start part four. Could be a few more chapters, could be longer.


	15. Chapter 15

Tony called them all into the war room later that evening after F.R.I.D.A.Y. had alerted him to a possible match to one Amara Malhotra.  She and Varun had changed their last name in hopes that they could remain hidden. But CCTV had caught them walking down a road in Mexico together.

“It was taken over two days ago.  As far as I know, they haven’t left the area,” Tony told them.  “Any other proof of life I haven’t been able to find yet.”

Bucky looked at Mina who was chewing on her lip, staring intensely at the photo on the screen in front of her.  “It’s her,” she confirmed. “I’m positive.”

“So how is this going to play out?”  Peter asked as he looked back at Mina.  

She took in a deep breath, her mind trying to formulate a plan.  Everyone was looking to her on this, this was her opp. “I need to see her alone.  If she sees anyone else she may get skittish and run. Even you Bucky,” she said when she caught his frown out of the corner of her eye.  “This is what we have to do. I’ll take a team as backup, but it really should just be me, I want as few people as possible. And I need Shuri’s permission to bring her to Wakanda if Amara agrees to come with us.”

“Nat and I will go with you and Bucky,” Steve said.  “The others can wait here and we can call for backup if needed.”

Tony looked from Steve to Mina, “Is this cool with you?”

Mina nodded, “We leave tomorrow morning.”

Steve, Natasha, Bucky, Tony, and Mina stayed behind to discuss the opp a little further than what they had with the team.  “Natasha can be close by, another woman in the area won’t spook her as much if she thinks that she’s a tourist. But with Steve and Bucky, two men who you can tell have military training will stand out like a sore thumb.”

“She’s not wrong,” Bucky said when he saw Steve about to protest.  “You look like a military man, straight back, the way you walk.  I, on the other hand, would stick out because of this,” he raised his metal arm and waved it at them.  “She would definitely know something was off then.”

“The goal is to not make her run away to a place where I can’t find her again,” Mina said.  “If she doesn’t want to come with me then I won’t make her, but if she sees the others she may think it’s a trap.  She’s on the run she won’t process whether or not you’re friendly or an enemy.”

“Plus I can blend in,” Natasha said.  “It’s one of my many talents.”

Steve still didn’t like the sound of waiting back at the jet with Bucky, but Mina told them that she and Natasha would be fine without them.  “When we start tracking down the others _ then _ you can come join us.  But not before then, not with her.”

“Fine, but if one thing seems off then I’m coming out there,” he pointed a finger at her.

“That’s perfectly fine with me, Steve.”

 

They flew the jet from New York to Mexico the next morning.  A nervous energy running through them all. Mina’s leg was bouncing up and down, and Bucky had to clamp his hand down on it to keep her from doing it.  She gave him an apologetic look, and he kissed her cheek, murmuring that he understood.

When they landed, Steve and Bucky hung back while Natasha and Mina departed into the hot streets of the town they were in.

“Where do you think they’ll be?”  Natasha asked as they walked down the narrow sidewalk together.

“Don’t know, but they’ll want to stay in places where there aren’t a lot of cameras, they’ll only risk it if they absolutely have too.”

The two of them scoured the town for half a day, looking for any signs, even asking a few people if they had seen Amara before, but most of them shook their heads.  Mina was ready to give up and say they had moved on when a kid raced up to them. “Are you looking for Miss Amara?”

Natasha and Mina exchanged looks with one another before bending down to be eye level with the young boy who had approached them.  “You know Amara?”

He nodded his head vigorously, “She’s my English teacher.”

“Do you know where she lives, she’s an old friend of mine.”

The boy pointed down the road.  “There’s an apartment building made out of red brick.  She lives on the second floor with her husband Mr. Malhotra.”

“Thank you,” Mina called out as the little boy raced away.  “Do you think it’s a trap?”

“Only one way to find out,” Natasha told her.

“Do you need us?”  Steve’s voice came over the comms.

“Rogers, if we needed you we would have said so, just be ready,” Natasha murmured into her comm device.

The two women headed down the stretch of road until they came to the red brick building.  It didn’t look like the kind of place where people would live. It had even been condemned by the town.  “Definitely a trap,” Mina murmured. “Steve, Bucky, be ready.”

“Heading to your location now,” she heard Bucky say.

Natasha passed Mina one of her guns and Mina pushed the door open.  They stepped inside, the wood floors groaning beneath their feet. Mina heard the telltale signs of birds on the floors above.  She also heard movement of the human variety.

Mina pointed upward and Natasha nodded her head indicating that she had heard it as well.  The two of them made their way for the stairs, it creaking under their shoes. Mina could hear her heart pounding in her chest, she thought it would be echoing off the walls with how loud it sounded.

Once they reached the second floor the two of them went in opposite directions checking the whole floor and finding nothing there.  They met back at the stairs and headed up again. This time when they reached the top they scared a group of birds. Mina’s heart leapt in her chest, and she had to take in a deep breath to steady her breathing.

Once the birds had dissipated they continued their search.  Mina rounded a corner and heard a gun go off in the direction that Natasha had gone in.  Racing over she found her friend pressed against the wall, a frown on her face.

“You good?”  Mina asked, her eyes scanning for any bullet wounds.

Natasha nodded, “She didn’t get me.”

“Go away!”  Came Amara’s familiar voice.  It was shaking slightly. “I know he sent you!  I’d rather die than go back!”

“Amara!  Amara, it’s me.  It’s Mina,” Mina called back.

There was a slight pause, “Mina?”

“I’m coming around the corner, don’t shoot okay?”

“Okay,” there was hesitation in her voice.

Mina rounded the corner her finger away from the trigger of her gun, holding it so that it wasn’t pointed at Amara.  She was tanner than last time Mina had seen her. Her brown eyes looked dark and haunted, and she looked like she hadn’t slept well in days.  The gun in Amara’s hand pointed directly at Mina’s head. “It’s just me and my friend Natasha Romanoff. You know her right? You remember her from our training?”

Amara nodded, “I do.  What are you doing here?  Did he send you? Why are you with an Avenger?”

Mina lowered her gun onto the floor, a show that she wasn’t here to hurt Amara.  “I’m not with The Enclave anymore,” she explained. “I was captured by the Avengers, or I thought I had been.  They rescued me and helped me get my memories back, the ones before Caterina came for me.”

Amara was shaking slightly, “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”

“You don’t, but I can prove it to you.  You know Steve Rogers right? Captain America?”  Amara nodded. “He’s here with the man I love, Bucky Barnes.  The former Winter Soldier. We came here because we want your help.  We want to talk, that’s all. We’re not here to force you to do anything.”

“Where is he?”

“Steve ETA?”

“Two minutes,” came his response.

“He and Bucky are two minutes out.  They’ll come up and I’ll prove to you that we’re not with The Enclave.  We’re trying to stop them.”

Silence stretched between them as they waited for the telltale signs of boots on the wooden floor.  After a moment they heard them, two sets coming up the stairs. Amara still had her gun raised shakily.  Steve rounded the corner with his hands up. “Hello, you must be Amara. My name is Steve Rogers.”

Amara lowered the gun and let out a shaky breath.  “You escaped.”

Mina nodded, “I did, but I need your help Amara.  I want to free the others. I want to take down The Enclave.  And I need your help. You know how The Enclave works, you were there for years before I helped you escape.”

“Two, I was there for two years.  They programmed me to think that I had been there my whole life.  That they raised me.” She stuck the gun in her waistband behind her back.  “My parents think I’m dead.”

“How much do you remember from your previous life?”  She asked.

“Not much, just enough to know they brainwashed me.  Varun’s been trying to help me.”

“Where is he?”  Steve asked.

“In a motel room across town, I told him if I wasn’t back in thirty minutes to get out of town, so we should probably head there now.”  She began moving toward them, and motioned that they follow her.

The motel was in the opposite direction from the condemned building they had just been in, about ten minutes away depending on which route you took.  Amara knocked three times on the door and Varun opened it. He took in the extra people behind Amara. “What’s going on?”

“They’re friendly Varun.  This is Mina, the one that helped me escape.”  Mina gave him an awkward wave. “Her boyfriend Bucky, and their friends Steve and Natasha.  They’re Avengers.”

He stepped aside to let them in.  “Am I glad to see friendly faces. We’ve almost been caught three times by The Enclave since we started running.”  He shut the door and bolted all the locks before putting a chair under the handle.

“It’s been rough,” Amara groaned as she took a seat on the edge of the bed.  “So tell me what it is you want with me so I can either deny you or come with you.”

“I want your help taking down Shinsky and the others.  I want to free those women that were like us. And I need your help to do it because we’re the only ones that truly know how The Enclave works.  And like I said before we’re not going to make you do this. We’ll leave and you’ll never have to see us again.”

Varun and Amara shared a look with one another, silent understanding passing between the two of them.  Amara turned to look at Mina, “The Avengers will protect us if we do this, yes?”

“Of course,” Mina said.  “We’re not going to let them take you again.  If they do who knows what Shinsky will do to you once he has you back.”

Amara took in a deep breath.  “I will help you. Not being hunted down like an animal for the rest of my life sounds really good right now.  Being able to go home and see my family again. Getting my life back, we both want that.”

“And we’ll do everything in our power to make sure that happens,” Bucky said.  “Because we want that too.”

Amara and Varun packed what little belongings they had and left with the others.  Mina relieved that Amara had agreed to this. On the way back to the compound Amara said, “It will be nice to have a proper shower again.  With soap and cold water. We’ve been low on funds for awhile, and luxuries like showers have been few and far between.”

“You’ll have your own room, and you can order clothes too,” Mina told them.  “Is there anything you want to eat? We can order it for you.”

“A cheeseburger,” Amara groaned.  “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a cheeseburger?”

Everyone chuckled.  “I know just the place we can go for that,” Mina said.  “I’ll call Sam and have him pick some up for us.” She made the call and came him their ETA.

The conversation lapsed into silence and she watched as both Varun and Amara fell into a deep sleep.  It had been a long time since either of them had felt this safe and had allowed their bodies to fall asleep so easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to decide how to end this one. I have an idea of how I want to end it, but not sure yet. Promise it won't be as heartwrenching as Siren Song. Still a couple chapters left though so I have time to decide.


	16. Chapter 16

Mina and Bucky trained with Amara and Varun.  The two of them were trying to build up strength again after being on the run.  They knew how to get out of situations, but fighting wasn’t always the best option for them.  Varun especially since he never trained in any form of fighting. He never thought he would have to resort to violence like this.

Once Amara and Mina began to spar with one another it all came back.  She was blocking shots and taking hits like a pro, but she still needed some work.

Natasha walked in at one point and offered to work with Amara, teach her a few of her moves.  Mina quickly agreed, needing a break from training.

Varun and Bucky were both outside running around the track with Steve.  Peter was in the lab with Tony working getting a siren resistant earpiece ready for Varun, and the others were lounging around doing nothing in the common room or their own private rooms.

Mina settled for the library where she knew she wouldn’t be disturbed.  She curled her feet under her and started to read one of the books Bucky had bought for her while she was still under The Enclave’s influence.

Her phone began to buzz in her pocket and she pulled it out not recognizing the foreign number flashing there.  She shakily answered it. “Hello?”

“Mina?”  It was Caterina.  “Thank God you’re all right.  We’ve all been so worried about you.  Shinsky just told us the Avengers had captured you.”

Mina gripped her phone tighter, “Captured me?  You want to run that by me one more time Miss Come With Me And None of Your Friends Will Be Hurt?”

There was a pause, “So you do remember.”  It wasn’t a question. “How’d they do it?”

“As if I’d tell you that,” she scoffed.  “Tell me why you called so I can hang up on you.”

“Don’t be like that.  We took you in, we were making the world a better place.”

Mina stood up, “They don’t want to make the world a better place!  They want to rule it under an iron fist!”

“It’s the only way to have peace.  You and Bucky could live normal lives, have kids, the whole nine yards.  You could have a family.”

“As if The Enclave and Shinsky would allow that,” she spat.  “They would kill Bucky in a heartbeat or brainwash the both of us to make sure that we fell in line.  Don’t play this game with me, Caterina, I know their end game. And we’re going to stop them.”

“Tell me did you find Amara?”  Mina’s silence answered her question.  “When we capture her she’ll be put to death for deserting us, and so will you.”  The line went dead.

The door opened and Bucky peaked his head in, “Everything all right?”  Mina tossed her phone watching as it shattered against the wall. Bucky came in further, “Hey what’s wrong?”

“Caterina just called, they know that I have my memories back now.  She told me that Amara and I would both be put to death once they caught us for being traitors.”

Anger clouded over Bucky’s face, “You can’t be a traitor to something you never believed in, in the first place.  Plus Shinksy won’t do shit to you, he still needs you. You’re his original Siren, and your unique abilities will require him to keep you alive for as long as possible.”

“So reassuring,” her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“I’m sorry for being so blunt like that, but it’s the truth.  He still needs you whether the other Sirens like it or not.” He pulled her into his arms and held her.  “But I’m not going to let them take you again. Once was enough, I won’t watch you leave me again.”

Mina gripped Bucky’s shirt, droplets of water hitting the top of her head, she smelled his body wash and knew he had just come from the shower.  She inhaled deeply loving the smell of his body wash. “Don’t tell Amara. I don’t want to scare her or Varun.”

“I won’t,” he promised.  “But from now on just don’t answer your phone unless you know who it is.”

She laughed, “Deal.”

 

Mina and Amara joined together the next afternoon to try and help F.R.I.D.A.Y. recreate what The Enclaves’ headquarters looked like.  It was a slow process since the place was so big. They told F.R.I.D.A.Y. what island it was on and where all the villages were located along the coast.  

Once it came time to do the building that was when things started to become a bit more complicated.  “There were smaller buildings, places for overflow storage and hangers for the jets around this area,” Mina said as she pointed to an area that was bare.  “Probably about fifty or so?”

Amara shook her head, “I’d say thirty.  There weren’t that many jets, and Shinsky liked to keep his things close where he could keep an eye on him.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y. added the buildings, “What else can you remember about the base?”

They showed her where the airstrip was, where the front entrance was, what route the underground tunnels led to.  “Maybe we should send Scott on another reconnaissance mission,” Mina joked.

“Scott Lang?  You mean Ant-Man?”  Amara asked in confusion.

“Yeah, he got us into one of the Enclaves’ bases.  The one where Shinksy first told me that I was one of his Sirens, a project that had given me some of my abilities.”  She turned the map they were working on and zoomed in on the first level. “He shrunk down and went in through the tunnels, but he was not looking forward to it.”

“They would probably know he was there,” Amara said.  “Their movement detection system is off the charts.”

“It is, too bad, it would have been a good idea to get a video of the place.  He has an ant that he can fly on, but that place is so clean that I doubt he would be able to get far.  They would know it was us before Scott even changed back.”

“True,” she traced her fingers along the top of the table.  “This should work for the most part.”

“Hopefully,” Mina said.  “Once we get more girls here they can help us decide what we need to add or change about this.  The attack we’ll lead is still a ways off.”

“I’m worried about the guards.  They’re all immune to us.”

“Don’t worry Peter and Shuri are collaborating on a way to knock out their systems remotely.  If we can get the earpieces offline then it’ll be easier to get in and out. We just need to worry about the Sirens that are out in the field right now, and if there are any new ones out there.”

“We know that Caterina will be at the base for sure.  She never leaves Shinsky’s side. Honestly I don’t think anything we do will ever change her mind about him.”  Amara shook her head, “She’s in love with him, and his right hand woman.”

“Were they together?”  Mina felt disgusted by the thought of them being together.  “That’s just sick if they were.”

Amara shook her head, “No they were never together like that.  Shinsky won’t touch her, won’t touch any of them like that. He needs them focused.  The only reason he allows Caterina to dote after him like she does is because he needed someone who would never betray him, and she was the one that would do anything he asked.”

Mina still felt disgusted, “That’s just sad.  She’s got a case of Stockholm Syndrome bad. Even the other girls aren’t as bad as her.”

“No, some of the others wanted to leave as well, but they were too afraid of what Shinsky and the others would do to them if they did.  Plus none of them would have made it far without help. The only way I was able to escape was because of you.”

“I knew how unhappy you were there, and I guess part of me was still who I was before I was taken.  There was this sense that I had to help you escape. You love Varun and he loved you, no Siren powers mixed in.  I had to make sure you won’t give up your whole life being a slave to Shinsky and The Enclave.”

“It’s a good thing too or you wouldn’t have me here to help you with this stupid map,” Amara laughed.  The two of them chuckled together before calming down and adding a few more things to the hologram that F.R.I.D.A.Y. was helping them make.

Once they were done they joined the others for dinner.  Tony asked them how the map was coming along, and they told him slowly.  “When he finally have more of the Sirens here they should be able to help us make a better version of the map.”

“Do we need to send Scott in?”  Tony brought up.

Scott looked up from his end of the table, “No, oh no, no, no.  I am not doing that again.”

“It’s okay Scott,” Mina told him.  “You wouldn’t be able to anyway. They would see an ant crawling or flying around and instantly know something was wrong.  There isn’t a bug to be seen in that entire facility.”

Scott visibly relaxed.  “Thank God,” he muttered under his breath.

“Then we look for the next Siren,” Steve said.  “Who are you both thinking of?”

Mina and Amara shared a look.  There were three they had in mind, one of which was already in the USA.  Mina looked at Steve, “Her name is Emily and she is currently with a congressman in LA.  She’d be one of the easier ones to get to.”

Sam smiled, “I’d love to go to LA.  When do we leave? I can be ready by tonight.”

Mina balled up her napkin and tossed it hat him, “We’re not leaving tonight you big goofball.  Give us a few days to see where she’s at if she has any plans on leaving the area and if there’s an event on her schedule where it would be easier to grab her.”

“I’ll start facial recognition right away,” F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice said.

“Thank you!”  Mina told the AI.

“Let us know when you have something substantial we’ll start planning.  How many people are you thinking for this mission?” Tony asked.

“As many of us as we can send.  This isn’t going to be like finding Amara who was on the run and scared.  Emily is a trained member of The Enclave, she will go down with a fight. We’re going to need one of those bracelets.  And make sure those earpieces are working for the rest of you.”

“Shuri and I are making some upgrades on the earpieces,” Peter spoke up.  “We can test them out tomorrow with the two of you just to make sure they’re still working up to code.”

“Good,” Tony said.  “I’ll call Rhodey later and tell him to be on standby if we need him.  Also I’ll make some calls to the Californian government and warn them.”

“Don’t,” Amara said.  “You don’t know how many of them Emil has in her pocket.  You tip them off then she tips off The Enclave and we’re back at square one.  She’ll disappear and we need all the Sirens we can get to take on Shinsky and the others.”

Tony nodded, “All right, we won’t tell anyone, but we need to do this as quietly as we can.”

“No promises,” Mina said.  “But we’ll try our best.”

The conversation lapsed into other things after that.  Each of them forming little groups and talking things over.  Tony was currently trying to rope Scott into going with them to California, but Scott was having none of that.

Bucky, Varun, Steve, Mina, Amara, and Natasha were talking about how the scenario could work out depending on what kind of situation they wound up in.  And the rest of them were just listening into the little conversations going on around the room trying to keep up with everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D I know what I'm going to do for the next chapter already and I am super excited.


	17. Chapter 17

“There will be a masquerade ball this Friday night and Emily will be there with Congressman Brant,” Amara laid the piece of paper in front of Mina with the information spread out before her.  “It’s to raise funds for the school district so that the schools in the area can afford new computers and electronics for the kids.”

“How can we get an invite to this?”  She looked up from the images F.R.I.D.A.Y. had collected for her and Amara over the past few days.

Amara gave her a look, “We use our abilities dummy.  We can just use our Siren Song on them so that they allow us entrance.”

Mina frowned, “I don’t like the idea of using that on innocent people.”

“Think of it like this, we have to in order to get the Siren out and away from government officials before she can get any higher up and possibly seize control of the United States.”

Mina had to agree with that.  She could do it for the sake of the United States.  “All right, any special requirements for what to wear?”

“Formal I’m guessing and obviously a mask,” Amara shrugged.  “I don’t have a copy of the invitation.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

“I’m on it Mina,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. responded.

Amara looked up at the ceiling, “I will never not be over that.”

Mina chuckled, “Nice isn’t it?  F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s great, and such a big help.”

The printer kicked on and started to print out one of the invitations that F.R.I.D.A.Y. had managed to find.  “Here you go Mina, one of the invitations. It looks like tuxes and dresses are required along with a mask.”

“Great, thank you.  I’ll let the others know right away so we can all work on getting our outfits ready.  This is perfect since Tony wants to do this as quietly as possible, she won’t be able to recognize us hopefully.”

 

On the other side of the compound, Bucky and Varun were working out together.  They were currently the only ones in the gym. Steve promised to join them a bit later, but he had to go run some errands with Natasha.  The compound was running low on supplies.

Bucky turned to Varun and asked, “When did you know you wanted to spend the rest of your life with Amara?”

Varun paused mid sit up and looked at Bucky, “Where did this come from my friend?”  He sat up all the way and flashed a grin at Bucky.

Bucky began to fiddle with the dog tags that hung around his neck.  “You and Amara barely knew each other when you decided to upended your life to be with her.  You loved her so much that the thought of life without her by your side was too painful, right?”  Varun nodded. “When Mina was taken it was like a part of me had been ripped away. Mina makes me feel normal, she doesn’t judge me, and I know she must love me because even when she had forgotten about me she still had tells that told me somewhere deep down she remembered me, remembered us.  Her body recognized me.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, ever since she got back actually.  I want to ask her to marry me, but I don’t know if she’s ready for that. I don’t want it to be too soon, but just imagining a life where she’s not around is painful.”  Bucky blew out a breath. “I guess I was just wondering how you knew Amara was the one you wanted to be with for the rest of your life.”

Varun chuckled, “You’ve got it bad my friend.  But it’s understandable given your situation. What HYDRA made you do was awful and you didn’t think someone could look past that, then in comes Mina and she does.  She truly loves you, she gave up her memories to protect you and the others. That’s saying something right there.” He patted Bucky on the shoulder, “No one ever really knows if they’re ready for this commitment, but you just have to ask.  Take that leap of faith.”

“Thank you, Varun,” the tension in Bucky’s shoulders relaxed.

“Of course.”  He stood up and headed over to one of the treadmills.  

Bucky stood there for a minute thinking things over in his head, “You good here?” 

Varun slowed the treadmill and turned to look at Bucky, a half grin on his face.  “Yeah, we’re good. Going to talk to Steve?”

“Yeah, and I’ll be gone for a while.  If Mina comes looking for me tell her that Steve and I are running errands.”

“You got it, have fun.”

Bucky raced out of the gym and down the halls trying to find Steve.  F.R.I.D.A.Y. told him that he was in Tony’s office. He went there immediately and knocked on the door.  “Come in Barnes,” Tony called out. F.R.I.D.A.Y. had alerted them that Bucky wished to talk to Steve. “What can we do for you, Barnes?”

“I need to borrow Steve for a while if that’s all right.”

Tony waved his hand dismissively, “Yes, we were practically done here anyway.”

Steve followed Bucky out into the hall and toward the garage, “Where are we going Buck?”

“Not here, I’ll tell you in the car,” Bucky supplied.

 

“Where’s Steve and Bucky?”  Mina asked an hour later as she gathered the others in the conference room to tell them what she and Amara had found out.

Varun merely shrugged, “He said something about him and Steve running errands after he finished working out with me.  I don’t know where they went or how long they’ll be gone.”

Mina tapped her fingers on the table, “All right well then we’ll just have to call them because they need to hear this too and I am not going to tell them again.”  F.R.I.D.A.Y. called Bucky and Steve’s numbers. They answered on the third ring.

“What’s wrong?  Did something happen?”  Steve asked.

There was a lot of noise in the background and Mina was trying to figure out where they were.  “Are you guys at the mall?”

“Uh no, just really crowded in the Wal-Mart today,” Bucky said, his voice seemed a little off, but Mina was the only one that picked up on it. Well her, Varun, Amara, and Natasha.

“Okay,” she drew out the Os.  “Well can you get somewhere a little more secure because I have info on Emily that I’d like to share.”

“Give us a second,” Steve said.  They continued to hear the sounds of people as Bucky and Steve made their way past crowds of people.  Then, “All right we’re clear.”

“Amara discovered that this Friday they’re holding a masquerade ball to raise money for the schools in the area.  Fancy outfits, masks, the whole nine yards. It’ll be the perfect opportunity to grab Emily and go.”

“All right, so what’s the plan?”  Bucky asked, his voice had returned to normal.  

“I want Tony, Sam, and Rhodey in the sky watching us from above just in case something goes wrong.  Steve, Natasha, Bucky, Amara, and I will be the ones on the inside. Pietro, Wanda, and Peter will cover the outside of the building to make sure we’re clear there.  And I want Bruce waiting for us back at the jet to take us to Wakanda where Shuri will be waiting at her lab with for us.”

“And if things go south?”  Tony asked.

“If things go south and chaos ensues then we need all of you there with us because more than likely Emily will have security in her back pocket so we’ll have to take them out while making sure that she doesn’t escape and get back to The Enclave.”

“One of us could dance with her,” Steve suggested, while her guard is down then we can get the bracelet on her and nullify her powers.”

“She’d be trying to use her powers on you,” Amara said.  “You’d have to act like it was working. So one of us will work with you to show you how it feels when we start to use our abilities.”

“Bucky can’t be the one that dances with her,” Mina said.  Everyone looked at her. She rolled her eyes, “This isn’t about jealousy and he’s my boyfriend so she can’t touch him.  This is about the fact that he has a metal arm, which will stand out and most certainly give away who he is.”

“She’s right,” Bucky agreed, but Steve’s also recognizable.  Everyone knows who he is.”

“Then we need someone who won’t be as recognizable,” Mina said.  She looked over at Natasha. “Call Clint, see if he can come to California with us for a few days.”  Clint had been spending time with his family for the past few months. They hadn’t needed him so he had stayed away.  Natasha had been filling him in on all things going on at the compound.”

“On it,” she pulled out her phone and began texting Clint everything.

“Are we good?”  Tony asked. “Was that the last of the information?”

“I believe so,” Amara said.  “We just need masks and outfits for the night.”

“I’m also on that,” Natasha said with a grin.  “Don’t worry, you’ll all look great.”

Mina wasn’t so sure she liked the sound of that.

 

A few hours later Bucky and Steve returned from their little excursion.  They had actually gone to Wal-Mart to get some things so that their cover wouldn’t be blown.  Mina was in the kitchen fixing a pot of tea when they walked in, their arms laden with bags of food and household supplies.

“You guys sure did take your time at Wal-Mart,” she grinned at them before taking a sip of her tea.  Bucky was blushing and Mina raised an eyebrow, “Is something going on that the two of you aren’t telling me?”  Steve just chuckled and left the room with a soft ‘good luck’ directed at Bucky. Mina was growing a little worried now, “Bucky seriously, what’s going on?”

He sighed and took her hand in his, “Come with me.”  He took her teacup from her and gently set it down on the counter before pulling her up the stairs toward the roof.  

It was dark on the room, none of the fairy lights were lit and the fire pit was cold.  Mina lit it with her fire and took a seat on the couch next to Bucky. He was fidgeting nervously and Mina felt her anxiety levels shoot through the roof.  “Bucky, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?” 

“I have something I want to ask you, but I’m scared of how you might react or what your answer will be.”

“Bucky just tell me, I’m sure whatever it is won’t be as bad as you’re making it seem,” she said softly trying to calm him down.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Steve had gathered everyone in the surveillance room and they were all watching from the monitors.  “Rogers, should we really be watching this?” Tony asked. “This is kind of a private moment.”

“Shhhh,” Sam shushed Tony.  “I want to see this.”

On the roof Bucky took in a deep breath and met Mina’s gaze.  Her expression was soft, patiently waiting for him to get a grip and spit out whatever he wanted to ask her.  “I know that we haven’t been together long, but while you were away I realized that I didn’t want to live a life without you in it.  I wanted to share my experiences with you. When we got you back and you couldn’t remember us it killed me, but I kept telling myself that you would remember.  Then when Shuri helped you get your memories back and you said my name, and you had that look on your face I have never felt so relieved in all my life.” He had tears in his eyes.  “I love you so much Mina Gaspari, I hope you know that.”

“I do,” she said earnestly.  “Of course I do Bucky.” She squeezed his hands, getting a little emotional herself.  

He removed one of his hands from hers and reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a little box.  “When you called earlier Steve and I weren’t in Wal-Mart. We were at the mall, and I was picking out this.” He lifted the lid and revealed a simple diamond ring with two turquoise stones on either side of the diamond.  Mina’s eyes widened when she realized what he was holding. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I talked to Varun today about this. He told me that if I was ready to take the leap then to go for it. And I am.  So Mina will you marry me?” Mina couldn’t take her eyes off of the ring, her heart pounding. Her mouth was hanging open slightly. “Doll? It’s too soon isn’t it? I’m sorry I should have waited.” 

He went to close the box and pull away, but she stopped him.  “James Buchanan Barnes don’t you dare put that ring away.” He smiled a little at the intensity of her voice, the way his name rolled off her tongue.  “You gotta give a girl a minute after a shock like this.” She took in a deep breath and met his hopeful gaze. “But yes, I want to marry you Bucky.” A big smile broke out onto his face and her grin matched his.  He leaned forward and captured her lips with his, and he gently slid the ring onto her finger.

The moment was ruined by cheering and a spray of champagne.  Bucky began laughing and Mina broke away cursing at their friends in Italian.  “Were you idiots watching us?!”

“Yep!”  Peter grinned at her.  

“Should have known doll, there’s no such thing as privacy when it comes to this group,” he kissed her cheek lightly and she turned to him with a soft smile, her cheeks tinted pink.  “But only Steve and Varun knew so which one of you spilled the beans?”

Varun pointed to Steve, “It was him.”

“Come on Buck, I had to see if you would screw it up.”

Bucky stood up and punched Steve in the arm, “Punk.”  But the two embraced and the others started to congratulate the two.

The girls had split off from the men and every once in a while Bucky would catch Mina looking over at him with a big grin on her face and vice versa.  Natasha made a sexual comment which had Mina’s cheeks flaming red, but she couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her.

The night dwindled down and the others started to drift off to their rooms.  Mina and Bucky following suit. He opened the door to their bedroom and she smiled at him, “Thank you, Mr. Barnes.”

“You’re welcome future Mrs. Barnes,” the two of them had already established Mina would take his name after being asked by everyone if that’s what they were gonna do.  

A thrill went through her when he called her that.  “So how are we going to tell my parents?”

Bucky groaned and fell back onto the bed, “I completely forgot to ask your father for permission!”

She chuckled as she laid down beside him.  “You could always pretend like you haven’t asked me.”

“But then I’d be lying,” he said.

“Eh, a little white lie won’t kill them.”  She kissed his cheek. “I love you Bucky.”

“I love you too Mina.”  He pulled her closer and kissed her gently.  “I’m glad you said yes.”

“I’m glad you asked,” she kissed him again, a little bit more passion behind it this time.  “We have to wait until The Enclave is gone before we set a date though. I don’t want them getting in the way.”

“Of course,” Bucky told her.  “We can wait as long as you want, doll.  No rush.”

As the excitement started to wear down Mina’s eyes became heavier and heavier.  “You’re losing me, Buck.” A yawn escaped her and she snuggled closer to him. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight,” he whispered as her eyes fluttered shut and she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So congrats to the happy couple :D. Of course the team was spying on them the entire time, it's just what they do.


	18. Chapter 18

Friday came quicker than anyone expected.  Mina, Bucky, Amara, Natasha, Steve, and Clint were all waiting to be allowed entrance into the Ritz-Carlton’s ballroom where the ball was being held.  The boys were all wearing a variation of the same suit, their ties and masks the only thing that were different. Bucky was wearing a red mask with gold paint designs drawn on with a simple red tie that matched the red of Mina’s dress.  Steve’s mask and tie matched the blue of Natasha’s dress, a deep navy color that complimented her skin tone and hair well. Clint was wearing a dark purple tie and mask, the mask remembered her a little of wings like a hawk’s. Amara was in a deep green dress with a mask to match.  

All of them were shifting nervously in line as they waited to be either allowed in or denied entrance.  Bucky was holding onto Mina’s hand tightly, he could feel her pulse beating wildly. He brought her hand up and place a gentle kiss against her pulse point.

“Everything is going to be fine, doll,” he reassured.

She tore her eyes away from the bodyguards at the door.  “I feel like I’m about to pull a Jedi mind trick on these guards.”

She heard chuckling, “I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Peter,” Tony’s voice warned.  “No pop culture references.”

“She started it, Mr. Stark.”

“No,” Tony’s voice was stern, leaving no room for interpretation.

That got Mina to smile.  The line shuffled forward. And they were only a few more people in front of them.  “Showtime ladies and gentlemen,” Clint murmured softly.

The group made it up to the main guard who said, “Invitation,” in a bored tone.

Mina smiled sweetly at the guard, handing him over several blank sheets of paper.  “Here are our invitations sir,” her power was rolling off her, making sure that this worked.  “Mina Gaspari, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Amara Malhotra, James Barnes, and Clint Barton.”

The guard looked over the blank sheets of paper, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized it.  Mina felt sweat forming on her forehead, she was ready for him to ask her if this was some kind of joke, to throw them out before they had even made it past the front door, but the questions never came.  He looked up at Mina and said, “Proceed.” The group let out a collective breath and slipped past the guard.

Inside they were met with men and women in their finest outfits, masks of varying colors, shapes, and sizes masking their identities.  The group paused taking everything in. “How are we gonna find her with all these people around?” Steve asked.

“She’s blonde,” Amara said.  “So that eliminates more than half the women here.”  She started to move through the people. “Just keep an eye out and alert the team when you have a visual.”

“Come on Captain,” Natasha took Steve’s hand.  “Dance with me.”

Clint shook his head, “God that’s gonna take some getting used to.”  He disappeared into the crowd as well leaving Mina and Bucky standing there watching the others dancing.

He looked down at her, “Wanna dance?”

“I never thought you’d ask,” she pulled him to the dance floor and wrapped her arms around his neck.  Her eyes scanned the group of people dancing with them. She caught a flash of Natasha’s red hair. “Do you think she’s here yet?”

“Possibly, but I don’t see her or Congressman Brant.”

They continued to dance, their bodies pressed closely together, their eyes scanning the group of people.  “Anything?” She asked the others.

“Negative,” Steve responded.  “I don’t think they’re here yet.”

“You don’t think they could have bailed do you?”  Amara asked. She had hung back with the others who weren’t dancing.  She was constantly fending off the single men who took a liking to her.  

“They could have, especially if they caught wind of our arrival,” Clint said.

“Tony, do you see anything?”  Mina asked. He and the others had a bird’s eye view from the sky.  They could see people coming in and out of the hotel.

“Nothing yet.”

“Wanda?”  Mina questioned.

“No, sorry Mina.”

Mina frowned, “Where is she?”

The song came to an end and the people began to clap in appreciation for the band.  “Thank you,” the leader said. “We’ll be back in ten minutes with more music for you.”  As the band walked off the people started to mingle. 

An usher walked over to where Mina and Bucky were standing.  He passed a note along to Mina and said, “Miss Emily told me to give this to you.”  He quickly hurried off once she had taken the note from him.

“Room 401, midnight.  You and Barnes come alone,” Mina read allowed.

“She knows we’re here,” Amara said.  “Should we abort?”

“No,” Mina said.  “We need to do this.  Everyone be on standby.  Bucky and I will head there at midnight and see what she wants.  Just be ready in case things go south.”

“I don’t think you should do this,” Pietro said.  “It’s more than likely a trap.”

“Of course it is,” Mina said.  “But we have to do this. We’ve come all this way we can’t back out now.”

“She’s right,” Bucky said.  “We’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” Steve argued.

“Trust us,” Bucky responded.  “We can handle this.”

Clint appeared out of nowhere and handed the bracelet to Mina.  “I’m going to set up across the street, if you can get her in front of the windows I can shoot her with a tranquilizer from there, give you guys an edge.”

Mina nodded, “Go, we can handle it from here.”

Clint disappeared out the door and Mina listened as the others tried to come up with contingency plans in case things went sideways.  When the clock got closer to midnight the others were still trying to talk Bucky and Mina out of going, but they were adamant about this.  They needed Emily.

Bucky and Mina headed for the elevators and stepped inside.  “Are you nervous?” He asked.

“Extremely,” she responded.  “You?”

“Same, but we’ll get through this like we always do.”

“Damn straight,” she said.  The elevator doors dinged and slide open revealing an empty hallway.  Stepping out they turned to their left and headed for the room labeled 401.  When they found it Mina went to knock but it swung open. 

Emily stood before them in a bright red dress with a plunging neckline.  She smiled at Mina, “Sister.”

“Emily,” Mina replied curtly.  She hadn’t spent much time with Emily when she was still at headquarters, but she knew the blonde was extremely jealous of her.  “Can we come in?”

Emily stepped aside, “I’m so glad the two of you could make it.”  On the couch was the Congressman looking terrified. “It’s not every day I get visited by Shinsky’s favorite Siren.”

“I take it you know I left,” Mina replied.

Emily offered her a condescending smile, “Yes, you choose to play with the riff-raff and made Master very angry.  Caterina was so disappointed, the poor girl actually liked you, but I knew you’d be trouble from the start. Along with Amara.”

Mina’s hands curled into fists.  She wanted to use her powers so badly, get this over with, but something could happen.  She didn’t know what Emily had done to the Congressman. “Tell us what you want Emily.”

Emily sat down in on Congressman Brant’s lap, her arms wrapping around his neck.  “Tell me is he really worth it? This reject of HYDRA’s. To be honest he doesn’t look all that special.”

Bucky threw out an arm to hold her back, “Don’t let her bait you doll.”

There was a wicked grin of Emily’s face, “Yes  _ doll,  _ don’t mind little old me.”

“Just tell us why you wanted us up here,” Mina spat out.

“I have a message to deliver you from Shinsky,” she said.  “Tell Amara that Varun has been under their control since the moment she was caught falling in love with him.  Shinsky sent one of the other Sirens out, he knew that she would try to do something. It’s the only reason why they allowed her to escape.  He knew at some point when you finally broke free of his control that you would go running after her to get her to help you round us loose ends up.”  She ran her fingers through Congressman Brant’s hair. “Such a shame, they were actually cute together.” She placed a kiss on his cheek.

“I have the shot,” Clint said.  “Do I take it?”

“Yes,” Mina said.  “They did make a cute couple.”  Thankfully Clint knew that yes was meant for him.  There was the sound of glass breaking and Emily’s hand went to the back of her neck, pulling it back around she realized she had been shot with a tranq dart.  

“Dirty trick Mina,” she fell over completely knocked out.

Rushing over Mina placed the bracelet around Emily’s wrist before Bucky picked her up.  Mina looked at Congressman Brant, “Sir are you all right?”

“What the hell was that about?”  He demanded as he seemed to regain some of his composure.  

“Sir I need you to calm down and forget about whatever Emily was going to have you do.”  Mina looked up at Bucky. “Forget that we were ever here and that you knew Emily.” The Congressman merely nodded, a far-off look on his face.

As Mina and Bucky rushed down the halls back toward the exit of the building he said, “I thought you couldn’t alter memories.”

“I couldn’t before, but Shinsky taught me a few things.”  She shoved the exit door open and let Bucky through first.  Steve, Natasha, and a distraught Amara were there waiting for them.  Mina told the others to go and she gripped Amara by the shoulders, “I know what Emily just said hurt, and that’s a betrayal you’ll have to deal with later.  But right now I need you to pull yourself together, at least until we get back to the jet and get into the air. She knew we were coming here and who knows if Shinsky sent back up.”

Amara nodded and took in a deep breath.  “Okay,” her voice was barely a whisper. 

Mina took her hand and began pulling her through the streets of LA toward the jet.  Bucky was waiting on the sidewalk for them and the three of them quickly made their way toward the jet.  Bruce and everyone else was ready to go as soon as they got there.

“Take us to Wakanda,” Mina said as she sat Amara down and handed her a little thing of tissues.  The young Siren broke down into sobs as she finally let herself be lost in her grief. Mina hugged her close and tried to soothe her friend, but she knew that something like this wouldn’t be a quick fix.  It would take time. “Someone call Vision and see if Varun is still at the compound.”

“Already on it,” Wanda said.  “I started messaging him the moment we heard what Emily said.  And he said Varun disappeared shortly after we left. He tried to break into the surveillance room, but F.R.I.D.A.Y. managed to keep him out.”

“How did he get away so quickly?”  Amara asked.

“He’s Enhanced,” Wanda told her.  “The Enclave ran experiments on him while you were still at the headquarters.  He has speed just like my brother.”

Everyone looked at Pietro, “We’ll get him back.  If he’s under The Enclave’s control then that’s an easy fix.  We just do to him what we did with Little Mina and now with this Emily girl.”

“They’ll kill him,” Amara said.  “Now that they’ve gotten what they need out of him, they’ll kill him.”

“You don’t know that,” Mina said.  “They could still have a use for him.”

Amara wiped at her tears furiously, “We’ll see.”

The jet grew silent, no one sure what else they should say.  When they reached Wakanda they immediately rushed Emily to Shuri’s lab where she started the process of getting the girl to remember her past.  Who she was before The Enclave had taken her.

Mina and Bucky stood off to the side watching Emily as she laid on the table completely unconscious.  Shuri watching her vitals. “Two down only thirty-five more to go,” Mina said as she looked up at Bucky.

“Piece of cake,” he murmured.

Mina snorted and stepped closer to him, letting his arms enveloped her into a tight embrace.  Tomorrow was a new day and hopefully one with good news for the team. Mina thought about Amara who was currently at the palace with the others.  Her heart broke for her friend. There was no way to know if Varun was still alive, but she prayed he was for Amara’s sake.

She couldn’t imagine what she would be like if it was Bucky in that position.  She wasn’t sure if she could be as strong as Amara was being. Tomorrow Mina would take Amara out and show her Wakanda, try to take her mind off of what was happening, but for right now she was standing silently watching over Emily and praying that she remembered who she truly was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We did it! We reached the end of Remembrance. And I have some exciting news to share. I'm starting a new Bucky fanfic, but this one will be a paranormal AU. I'll let you know when I finally post it, but I think I'm going to try and get some of it written before posting it because I'd really like to finish this series before starting it, but I don't know we'll see how it goes. I'm also still working on developing the idea for Steve's series.


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